Mission: FLAMBÉ À LA MODE
by Numbuh Phenon
Summary: You never hear about the work spies do. For example, before her reign as Supreme Leader, Rachel once had to sneak past a legion of ninjas to disable a death ray built by a rad clad child genius.
1. Objective 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Codename Kids Next Door.

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**Now loading:**

**kids next door mission**

**operation:**

**f.l.a.m.b.é-a.l.a-m.o.d.e.**

**Funky**

**Lad**

**Assembles**

**Melting**

**Beam**

**Extravagantly**

**Attracting**

**Lotta**

**Attention**

**Making**

**Operative**

**Do**

**Espionage**

…or

_**Melt My Heart Away Another Day**_

**Starring: Sean Conn –uh– Rachel McKenzie**

* * *

Snow snow everywhere, and not an ounce of wintery fun to be had. The wind was nippy, the air was chilly, and the mood could not be anymore frigid. The low beams of the moon cast a glistening effect on the powdery mountain scape creating a glowing beauty of the nature around. But one couldn't properly enjoy it. There was work to be done tonight.

Unknown to the world, hidden between a small ridge of the mountain range was a largely fortified compound crafted by the hands of an aspiring child genius. The stone walls kept an imposing shadow over the land, barring trespassers from entry and concealing all secrets inside. The main courtyard spanned the entire area, sporting several plain ashen buildings and outposts for the main fraction of security.

Two tall lookout stations kept a steady eye over the whole compound from opposite ends of the walls with roaming searchlights periodically scanning the layout for any possible annoyances. The silent yet active compound offered no exciting elegance, nor tried to hide what it was with a facade of floral coatings or useless design scheme. It was a dull means-to-an-end and nothing more.

Atop the eastern lookout tower appeared a small hand gripping onto the ledge. Soon after, a lithe figure flipped itself over and rolled onto the roof into a crouch. The figure was coated in ebony stealth gear and a stren face-plate with a thin eye slit. Gadgets and equipment were strapped onto the stealth outfit and jingled lightly with every subtle move. Two hazel eyes were visible behind the mask's slit and they shifted carefully for any signs of opposition. After a second to register, the figure moved towards the edge. Once seated at a perch, her hands whipped out a pair of oddly fashioned binoculars and began to scout the area.

First, she centered her sights on the structure at the far end of the compound. A three-story metal scaffolding-esque platform that was built into the mountain itself. She assumed that the interior of the mountain housed a secret facility for there were two entrances around the platform; one at ground level and the other at the top floor. She lifted her gaze a few degrees higher and made out a dome like building further back in the snow-capped peaks, almost perfectly concealed within the snow. She stored the information for later use and moved on to scout the rest of the compound below.

The girl peered over the numerous buildings, outposts, and the tight alleyways between each of them and she noted with mild suspicion that she hadn't picked up the faintest trace of activity. Where were all the guards, security teams, or armed thugs patrolling the perimeter? Being in the dark hours of the morning gave no excuse to their absences, something was up.

Right when she was about to look off elsewhere, she saw it. The tiniest spec of movement in the darkness. She switched to night-vision to get a clearer reading and her brows notched skeptically once she saw them.

There was indeed security present. There was security present on the ground, on the roof-tops – seemingly everywhere. Some wandered around solo, others moved in flocks of two and sometimes three. They moved with precise grace around the compound as if they owned the night themselves. They were everywhere and the operative had only now figured out why she didn't notice them at first glance.

The hired men and women below wore outfits darker then night that hid their appearances and silently stepped from place to place, leaving no sign of where they had came from or where they were headed. Their suits concealed the metal glints of their knives, shuriken and other similar weapons. It was only then that she knew what she was dealing with.

"Ninjas," Rachel drawled as she stored away her B.O.N.G.O.S.K.O.P.E. "It's always ninjas." Numbuh Three Sixty-Two slowly stood straight and quietly gazed out to the sight before her. The young blonde operative of the Kids Next Door was on a very urgent mission, one that could factor into the fate of children world-wide.

Intelligence picked up rumors from the criminal-kid underworld of very disturbing news; news that an evil child genius was constructing a death ray to use for his own nefarious schemes. After countless days of trailing scant leads, crunching codes, and draining a gazillion gallons of soda to keep the nerd hackers awake, Global Command had not only confirmed the rumor, but tracked budgets and bills leading to this very area. The evil genius apparently garnered a large allowance and had no qulams about flaunting it all. That was his mistake. Now knowing his hideout and plans, the organization was now tasked with infiltrating the mad-kid's liar and disabling the weapon before it could pose any threat. And as the Kids Next Door's top stealth tactical agent, no other was better suited for the job then Rachel T. McKenzie.

Also, yes. She is aware that the whole thing sounds like a set-up for a bad spy movie. Moving on.

Rachel rubbed at her arms to gather warmth as she plotted her next step. Once she had left her extraction team at the S.C.A.M.P.E.R she had to scale the remainder of the way on foot. She hoped things would be easier now that she was at the part of the mission that actually required sneaking around, but now she had to find out where the so called death ray was being kept.

The creaking noise coming from below alerted her and caused her look over the edge. Exiting the lookout was one of many ninjas that were out and about. After walking a short distance, the silent warrior sat down in some sort of meditative position and pulled out a purple fizz soda and began slurping away.

Seeing the ninja on break caused an idea to form in Rachel's mind. She reached into her pouch, and pulled out a small gadget that looked like a bland yo-yo. She clipped the yo-yo to her belt, and pulled the string; attaching the hook to a jutting edge of the roof. Once she was certain it was secure, she dipped over the side, and slowly began to repel down.

The ninja contently gulped away on his refreshment as the cold night air kept his senses alive. When was about to pull the can away from his lips, his ears picked up on a distinct clicking sound right behind him. Eyes narrowing, he stayed perfectly still as his free hand crawled down do his belt. His fingers laced around his knife, and he carefully slid it out of its hilt as he waited.

Once she was dangling behind the ninja, Rachel reached for her pouch for another tool; this time pulling out a small, round, lime green candy. Her hand clenched around the candy as her other moved to take the ninja by surprise. But then her eyes noticed the man tensing. She then acted on instinct and swung her body to the side as the ninja reeled on her, swiping out his blade. It avoided her, but nicked the string of her yo-yo grapple.

With nothing holding her up, she fell to the ground. She recovered mid-air and landed in a crouch. As she saw the ninja leap up and arch his leg back, she dropped, rolled to the side, and let his foot connect with thin air. Using the brief moment to capitalize, she swept her leg out and tripped the ninja over as he was regaining balance. As he hit the ground, her empty hand pressed into his chest, and she easily flipped over him. But while she passed over him, her other hand shoved the piece of candy into his mouth.

"ACK!" the ninja coughed as something was forced into his mouth. He then felt his lips pucker as the flavor of sour green apple assaulted his taste buds. He quickly got to his feet and then tried to spit the candy out. Keyword being _tried_. For some odd reason, it wouldn't come out. He even attempted to pull it out, but it was no use. It was as if it was glued to his tongue.

"What trickery is this?" his accented voice graveled out as he looked towards Rachel, who herself was just standing there unnervingly calm. "What have you done?"

She only tilted her head in mock confusion. "What? You don't like G.O.B.S.T.O.P.P.E.R.s?"

* * *

**Kids Next Door: G.O.B.S.T.O.P.P.E.R.**

**G**luey. **O**ral. **B**onbon. **S**edates. **T**arget. **O**btaining. **P**roper. **P**roof. **E**nsuring. **R**eliability.

* * *

The ninja glared at the child, slowly stalking forward and raising his knife in an opposing manner. "You little…wha?" He blinked as he stopped, lowering his knife in the process. It was strange, but for some reason he found he had no desire to attack the little girl anymore. It was his job, but his body wouldn't respond at all. All the animosity he felt for her was just, gone.

"The first flavor completely numbs your anger, which makes fighting back impossible," Rachel explained as she stepped forward. She nonchalantly knocked the ninja over, and glowered down as she placed a foot over his chest. "Now you're going to tell me everything you know."

The ninja blinked as she forced him down and did nothing to stop her, because that would involve hurting her. Of course he _wanted_ to hurt her, _very much so_, but the candy would not let him. "I will do no such thing!"

"You don't have a choice," Rachel snapped back as foot increased pressure. "Is it true there's a death ray here in this facility?"

"Yes," the ninja answered honestly. His eyes then widened. "What the–"

"And that's red cherry kicking in, which makes you _very_ forthcoming." It was then the ninja noticed the gobstopper had dissolved to a different flavor. He looked up towards Rachel and he swore she was smirking behind her face-plate. "Now talk. Where's the death ray being kept?"

"Within the lab above us all," he admitted due to the effects of the candy. "It is under constant guard until the test run at dawn."

Rachel took a moment to glance further beyond the compound to the dome figure hidden in the peak. She surmised that it was the lab. She shifted her focus back on the ninja while he was still under the G.O.B.S.T.O.P.P.E.R's influence. "What's the target?"

"I…am not certain. We are not paid to ask such questions. Our client's intent is all his own."

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "Who exactly is your client?" At that exact moment, an electronic crackling noise pierced the otherwise quiet compound. Rachel tensed for whatever might spring out of the shadows, but she then adopted a puzzled expression when the voice of a child boomed over the intercom airways.

"_It's zat time again, baby!_" a frecnh accented voice bellowed,"_Feu on the mic with a shout-out to all my lean mean sneak machines. We's strutting closer and closer to party-hour, and when dawn cracks, we're bringing the house down!_" Whomever it was immediately followed the statement up with a boast of laughter. "_So stand tall, walk tall. Keep it smooth. Peel ze eyes, check ze ears and be on lookout for any rat-packs snooping 'round my crib. You see anyone who don't fly, zen don't hesitate to make with slice 'n' dice. Dig? Peace out!_"

The intercom fizzled out along with the voice. Rachel stared at the nearest speaker for a few long seconds before looking down at the ninja once more, slight disbelief clouding her hazel eyes. "What was _that_?"

"That was our client," he answered, his eyes closing as he shook his head. "The child refers to himself as, Professor Feu."

"_Professor_? So what? You guys are, like, his secret ninja army or something?"

Once she had asked her question, the man looked away in embarrassment as the candy forced him to answer truthfully. "We are his…babysitters."

"…Ninjas babysit?"

"Yes. We also do catering, gardening, and many other events. This month we're having a special; you enlist us for two assassination contracts, and we'll do a birthday party for free," he added, feeling obliged to mention the offer due to his contract.

"Whatever," Rachel huffed. She leaned down and gripped him by his collar, bringing his face closer to hers so he could witness the building annoyance in her pupils. "How do I get into the lab to shut down the death ray?"

"You would need lab access, but the only ones with access codes are the captain, the teenager, and the Professor himself."

"Teenager?" she asked confused. "What teenager?"

"The one who acquired our services for extra protection. She serves Feu as his personal bodyguard…and head nanny."

Rachel rolled her eyes as she processed the information. This mission was becoming harder and harder to take seriously. Figuring the 'Professor' and his teenager bodyguard were out of the question for now, she centered her current objective on the ninjas' captain. "How can I get access codes from your squad captain?"

"His terminal is located in the top room of the western lookout tower," he begrudgingly informed. He watched as Rachel stepped off of him and looked towards the other end of the compound. If it wasn't for the sedating properties of the G.O.B.S.T.O.P.P.E.R, he would have ended her the moment she turned her back on him with a simple flick of his wrist. "You shall not get away with this!"

The blonde choose to ignore his snarls and quips as she gazed out using her B.O.N.G.O.S.K.O.P.E once more. She looked across the landscape much like a surgeon looks over his tools before an operation; forming up her approach all the while. It seemed all she had to do was lower down into the compound, make her away across the courtyard, and climb up to the tower in order to reach the captain's terminal. Forming her plan, she stored her binoculars away and spared the ninja one last glance. "It won't matter. By the time you wake up I'll be back at home watching cartoons."

"What?" Before he could utter another word, he tasted as the candy forced in his month dissolved into one final flavor. The flavor of blurple berry swam around in his mouth and he found himself becoming very dizzy. The world around him spun and it all became a dark haze as he blacked out.

After she was sure the G.O.B.S.T.O.P.P.E.R had entered its final stage, Rachel moved to drag the ninja's unconscious body out of sight lest some other stealth warrior so happened to stumble across it. After pacing a few feet away from the east tower, Rachel neatly tucked the body in the shadow of the mountain the wall dug into. With that set-back settled, the blonde backtracked a few steps to begin her descent into the compound.

Rachel leaned over the railing of the wall and measured the distance of the drop in her mind. She doubted she could land that without injuring herself, and her yo-yo repel line had been damaged in the brawl with the ninja. How else could she get down?

"_It's Feu coming to you live!_" She jumped at the french accented voice, and snapped her gaze up to the intercom as Professor Feu decided to make another abrupt announcement. "_We just got off the line with super secret ninja infirm and they be bringing some bad vibes my rad bad bros. So here is deal; tomorrow there will be big bash! Everyone who still has a mama is invited to come get funky and see Feu lay down his smooth moves! …Jefferson, as of two hours ago, you no longer meet the invitation requirement. Stay fresh!_"

As a ninja sobbed over the fact his mother died and he wasn't invited to the Professor's party somewhere else in the base, Rachel kept her eyes solely focused on the intercom speakers. Or rather, the pole the speakers were attached to. She walked over and her hand gripped the cold metal as she followed the length of it. To her liking, she found that the pole dropped all the way down to the ground level inside Feu's compound. With that in mind, she hopped onto the pole, curled herself around it, and easily slid down to the ground below.

When her feet graced the ground, she dropped and rolled into a nearby building; pressing herself into the wall when she made contact. Staying close, she trailed along the wall until she came to a corner. She poked her head out slightly and watched as a group of ninjas wandered around in the courtyard. Changing course, she moved along the wall back where she started and kept going until she came to the next corner. She scouted ahead first, then quickly ran into the alleyway between the two buildings once the coast was clear.

She used the darkness and shadows of the night to her own advantage as she inched carefully across the vast compound. As she reached the end of one alley, she waited patiently for any lagging ninja marching down the walkways to exit earshot then quickly dashed across to the next alley to repeat the process as many times needed. Rachel paced herself as she moved from building to building, for they were her only source of cover. Creeping around another corner, she prepared to step out and run across to the next alley when she froze and quickly lowered herself.

There, gathered around a small outpost hut, was a group of armed ninjas scouting the area without a smidgen of movement. She was almost tempted to call them life-sized statues with the way they stood with a stoic calm. One thing was certain; they weren't planning on going anywhere anytime soon. She needed to find another way around them.

Rachel slowly stepped back into the alley, her hand trailing against the wall. It would take more time, but it seemed she had no other choice but to find an alternate route. But then her hand fumbled against the wall and she quickly glanced up to see an open window. Curious, she eased up and peeked inside the building. The small one-level, single-room structure wasn't large; it was probably about the size of a medium size hotel lobby. In fact she could make out the opposite window across the room. Nodding to herself, Rachel carefully flipped into the building and took a short-cut.

The blonde landed on the hard-wood floor without making a peep. She tugged at her collar a bit when her body started to sweat due to the rapid change in temperature, but she pressed on, and began tip-toeing her way to the other window.

"You follow the path with no obstacles obscuring your way. Eventually, your path takes you to the back of the village skate park."

Rachel ducked behind a nearby couch when a voice spoke out somewhere in the room. Confident of her hiding spot, she peaked over the side and saw more guards on break crowded around a table. The dingy light shining above them showed them to be playing some broad game. Seeing that they had failed to notice her entry, she silently continued her way to the other window. These guys had to be the worst ninjas. Ever.

"Near the back wall, you find the culprits; seven hobgoblins and a kruthik hatchling caught red handed in the middle of their fiendish act, all while drinking under age," a bulky ninja at the head of the table spoke mystically. "What do you do?"

"Pathetic," another ninja scoffed out. "Imposter goblins and a mutant crab child? They pose no challenge to my elf mage. She casts a spell of devastating flame upon the enemy, all are affected." Another ninja at his side handed him a twenty sided die, expecting him to roll for damage. After he rolled, his eyes shone with smug confidence as it landed on sixteen. "As expected. And that times twelve is…?"

The bulky ninja was silent as he consulted the charts regrading the monsters' stats. Once he was finished, he nodded and looked over towards his fellow assassin of the night. "You have vanquished them all. You must now be vigilant of the police."

"…Excuse me?"

"Dude," the head ninja scolded, "you just killed eight kids for drinking and reading adult magazines. What did you _think_ was going to happen?"

"This is an outrage!" the other ninja burst out as he slammed his fist down. He then drew his blade and wielded it threateningly at the head ninja. "You always pull stunts like this when you're dungeon master!"

"Calm yourself, you have yet to be seen. If you are careful, you can still dispose of the bodies and flee the village."

Rachel quietly closed the window once she had exited it, the ranting ninjas on the inside becoming nothing more then unintelligible mumbling. The blonde then gave a brief study of her surroundings, making sure she had indeed passed the guard post. She looked around the corner of the building, saw them all still standing there, then continued on across the street.

As she neared the west wall and the second lookout tower, Rachel ducked behind a set of trashcans as a searchlight swept over the area. Once it had past she looked up to the wall and then to the top of the tower itself. She then groaned as she spotted a hiccup on her plans. Climbing the wall wouldn't be a problem; the two ninja archers stationed on the roof of the building closet to the west wall was what bothered her. In order to make sure she wasn't seen during her climb, they would have to be taken out.

Now looking for a way to the roof, Rachel gave the street a once over before she found her route of access. There was a drainpipe on one building over. She waited for the searchlight to roam over again before making a short sprint for the drainpipe and climbing on up it. Once on top, Rachel sulked across the roof keeping her eyes trained for any top-side guards. But thankfully, the only ones she had to worry about were the two archers the next roof over. She stopped and crouched, then studied them as she plotted a way to silently incapacitate them. She then noticed a large chimney the other roof contained, and opted to aim for that and use it to take cover.

With a game-plan in motion, Rachel backpedaled a good distance and waited for the right moment to make her move. When both archers had their backs turned, she made a break for it. Her leg muscles tensed as she neared the edge, and finally, she heaved as she propelled herself into the air. She soared over the alley below and came down just as she passed the edge of the second roof. The blonde came down a bit faster then she expected, and tried to recover by letting her body roll towards the chimney. She ducked behind it, but her momentum caused her to collide with it harshly. The force caused a dull thud and Rachel cursed as one of archers suddenly went on the alert.

"What was that?" an archer growled out as she turned and pulled an arrow out of her quiver in one swift motion. "Show yourself!"

"It was probably the ice melting," her more laid back associate tried to reason. He only gave a brief shrug before continuing to scout around. "You know how hot the child keeps these buildings."

"Never assume such trivial things while on the job, rookie." The female expertly notched her bow as she stepped closer to the chimney, her eyes narrowing as she drew near. Finally upon the tall chimney, she took a breath before spinning around the side and aiming her weapon down. She was ready to release and let her arrow fly before she halted herself.

There was nothing there.

"Hmm," she muttered to herself as she lowered her bow. This job must have been getting to her. How could it not? She spent all those years training just to be a babysitter for some kid who wanted to be a Saturday morning cartoon villain. The woman shook her head and stored away her arrow. "I suppose it is one of those nights, eh rookie? …rookie?" She became suspicious once more as her partner failed to answer to his pet name.

"Darn it Kevin! When we're in uniform, you will respect as…KEVIN!" she screeched as she saw the body of her fellow archer laid out cold upon the roof. Now frantic, she scrambled to draw her bow again as she wildly looked around for the intruder. "Who –MMPH!" Her words became muffled as a hand gagged her mouth at the exact same time a decent weight latched onto her back. As she stumbled around, she looked up and the last thing she saw before a sharp pain connected with her skull were two chocolate-colored pupils behind a midnight fabric face-mask.

Rachel hit the deck the same moment the ninja's body did. She quickly rolled the two archers into the shadows, then ambled over to the edge closest to the west wall. She craned her neck to gaze up, seeing the railing of the tower's top balcony. She reached towards her pouch, and pulled out another on of her gadgets. A hairdryer. She aimed the device towards the railing and pulled the trigger. Surprisingly, there was pop and a grapple flew up to the steel railings of the lookout tower. The tines of the grapple slipped over one of the rails and caught on. Rachel pressed the button on the handle of the grapple-gun and it pulled her up allowing her to scale the wall.

When she peaked, she flipped and landed standing up on the balcony. Reaching down she unhooked the grapple from the safety railing and retracted the last of the line. Holstering her grapple, she crouched low once again and ducked under the window of the lookout tower's top-floor. She peered inside, and saw a tall lean man with a katana at his hip.

The ninja captain had his legs propped up on the counter while numerous screens and monitors flashed and beeped in front of him, but he was far too engrossed in his manga to really pay them any mind. Rachel ducked back down to plan how to get past him and missed how his eyes flicked over in her direction.

"Oh yes, let's send Numbuh 362 in alone to deal with the doomsday weapon," Rachel grumbled to herself as she searched her pouch for another G.O.B.S.T.O.P.P.E.R. She had already left a good handful of unresponsive bodies lying around, one more couldn't _possibly_ hurt. "Sending her in makes _way _more sense than a better suited infantry team." Her jaded musings would have continued had the intercom decided not to buzz again.

"_Juice! Who's got ze juice? Heh heh!_" She heard Feu crackle before his humorous mood vanished. "_No, seriously. Which one of you tight lipped shadow dancers took FEU'S LAST APPLE JUICE? Is NOT cool!_"

Rachel found one of her brows slowly rising as the child went on and on about his missing juice-box. "_This_ guy built a death ray? _Really_?" She just shrugged it off and went back to work. If his attitude was anything to go by, then disabling his weapon should be cake compared to getting to it. She prepared to tuck her G.O.B.S.T.O.P.P.E.R in her glove when she noticed something odd about her shadow. It was far lager then what it should be, and it looked as if it was raising some weapon over its head…

Oh crud.

Rachel nimbly dodged to the right as a katana came down where she was a moment ago. She was put off at the whistling it made as it sliced cleanly through the air, but she shook it off and looked up to her opponent. The ninja captain acted quickly and swung his hand out, grabbing her by the tip of her face-plate. Intent on holding her there, he lifted his sword towards her and brought it down to rip her in two. Rachel responded by jerking her head down and slipping out of her mask, revealing her face and shoulder length blonde hair to the world.

Now free of his hold, she ducked the sword and as she passed under, her fist sprung up and clenched around the captain's wrist, causing him to drop his katana. While she had him, she ran towards the wall and kicked off it, twirling herself over and behind the ninja while dragging and twisting his arm with her. The man grunted at the sharp pain as he was forced to his knees by the child. Rachel let go of his wrist, and he jerked his arm back and held it. Before he could make another move, the blonde lifted her leg and delivered a swift kick to the back of his head.

"I hate it when they do that!" Rachel snipped as the captain went down. Her fist tightened as she looked around her for anymore ninjas. If the captain had seen her, then there was a chance he alerted the rest of the base. Enough fooling around. It was time to get those access codes, get to the lab, and finally end this mission. Grabbing the captain by his shoulders, Rachel heaved as she dragged him back inside his office.

A few minutes later, Rachel exited the office. She pulled her face-mask back over her expression, and jammed the door shut behind her. She had tied up the captain in the supply closet, but one could never be too careful. Thanks to her hacking skills, she had gained the access codes to the lab; now all there was to do was get there and use them.

"There has to be a quicker way to get there," she spoke as she walked up to the safety railing. She looked out beyond the balcony to the scaffolding platform further back into the base. Time was of the essence and climbing back down and wading her way through shadows again would take too long. But how else was she going to get there?

She then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. On one of the intercom poles left of her was a set of thick wires that ran all the way back to another pole near the scaffolding she needed to reach. With enough balance and steady steps, she could probably walk across them. Seeing no better option, Rachel stepped up onto the railing, them jumped for the pole. She climbed to the top, and steadied herself on the tip. Then after taking a calming breath, she placed her right foot out onto the wire. She followed this up with another step, and soon she found herself tip-toeing across the radio-lines. A few feet in, she made the foolish mistake of glancing down.

Foolish, for the fact Rachel had a distinct fear of heights.

"Aa-ah!" Rachel tensed as she clenched her eyes shut, averting her gaze elsewhere. She spread her arms out for balance and started to slowly walk forward again. "Easy now, McKenzie. It's just like a balance beam…a balance beam that's several hundred feet in the air…the only thing between you and certain death being thin air– Not helping!" She scolded herself as she paused once more.

Sighing, she continued. "It's just like the tight-rope act from that show dad took us too. Yeah. Just keep calm and do it like the circus people." With that information in mind, she walked on confident.

…until she remembered something.

"I hated those circus people!"

* * *

Elsewhere in the base was a lavish room coated with fine décor and plush furniture all around. The walls were ablaze with blueprints of wild, outrageous machinery and every blueprint was framed like it were some work of masterpiece art. A bookshelf stood littered with records of old American hip-hop albums, and strange how-to books based on dancing, manner of speech, and other assorted nonsense. Beside the purple water-bed was a workbench of sorts with unfinished ray guns, hypno devices, and an open glass container that was home to a lazy iguana. The reptile took in the warmth from the incubator lamp, before climbing up and out of its cage.

The pet dropped and scurried around on the carpet floor, making its way to its master. It went to the back of the room which held a large screen with live security feed from all over the compound.

Seated in front of the massive terminal appeared to be a child. A child with a most interesting fashion appearance. His raven hair was slicked back and glistened with a new coat of hair gel and his smug eyes were hidden behind a sharp pair of blood red visors. A golden Doctor Time-Space and the Continuum collector's necklace dangled from his neck and the emblem crested itself against his smooth violet undershirt. An emerald green leather jacket hugged his tiny frame along with a matching pair of leather jeans that consisted of a much darker shade. The boy was in a rare moment of silence as his head bobbed to the disco beat of the music playing in his room. His hand stretched out to grab a mug of hot coco as he surveyed his terminal.

Standing almost uninterested behind him was a teenager decked out in the latest edition of Battle Ready Armor, only having been upgraded from a training B.R.A just last month. The female said nothing as she leaned against the wall, managing between watching her current charge and going over her nails. She caught sight of something crawling around on the floor and she let off a shiver as she watched the iguana pat its way over to the boy. She watched it climb up the chair and continue to work its way up on the boy's shoulder. Even worse, the kid didn't even seem to mind. She stuck her tongue out and mockingly gagged at the sight. Disgusting.

The boy himself only scratched under his pet's chin while his other hand rose the mug to his lips. After taking a gracious sip, he smirked. "Mmm, that'd be some smooth coco baby. Almost as smooth as moi!" he crackled. He then scrunched his face up in disgust as his thoughts wandered elsewhere. "Unlike zat overrated creamy ice slop."

The teenager lifted a thin brow as she listened to him. "Never thought I'd meet a brat who hates ice cream."

"Such horrid mush should not even be mentioned in Feu's presence!" Feu snapped as he went on a tirade. "Le bleh! _Ice cream_ with its chunky chocolate, rangy tang strawberry, and rile vile vanilla. Yuck! I spit on ze ice cream! Pwtooie!" He literally spat on the floor, his pet iguana mimicking his actions. Feu petted the reptile with praise as a devilish smirk graced his lips. "But soon it shall be me having last 'HA HA'! When I light up Project FLAMBE, ze whole world will know the heat-streak of Feu!"

The teenager rolled her eyes as Professor Feu chortled to himself. "Just remember to keep your end of the deal. I had to take money out of my own pocket to hire Father's secret ninja bodyguards for the night. And those fools ain't cheap!"

"Yes yes," Feu waved off. "I got it all up here, homes. I whisper good word into mama's ear, you get big fat babysitting bonus and Feu uses Project FLAMBE to…to…" He scratched at his head, looking back to the teenager looking a tad stumped. "What did you want blown to kingdom come again?"

"Kids Next Door," she growled frustrated. "If I called in extra protection, you swore to use your death ray thing to help destroy the Kids Next Door!"

"Yes, Kids Over Neighborhood. Feu knows zis! What do you take him for? Stupid lame brain?"

"Oh never," the the Teen Ninja smirked as she folded her arms. "You put the wit in 'twit', kid."

"Ooooh hooo! Aren't we's acting snooty tonight?" Feu turned in his spinning chair and lowered his red shades to glare at the girl, his iguana hissing along with him. "Feu is not deaf to your snippy sarcasm, Cree. Nothing escapes ze fine combo of brilliance and macho you gaze upon. Nothing I say!"

Cree ignored the child as she rose her look to the security footage going on behind him. She surveyed the screen but stopped when one particular event caught her attention. Her lips quirked upwards as she chuckled at the hitch in Feu's forces. "You sure about that?"

Confused, Feu turned back to the computer and glanced to the feed Cree was motioning to. It was footage from the western lookout tower, and the boy did not like what he saw going down. There was kid, a blonde girl, dragging the ninja captain back into the room. She proceeded to tie the man up, stuff him in the supply closet and move to hack his terminal. Feu spluttered before he could form a response. "What is this? I do not remember there being midget ninja in roll call!"

"It's like I warned ya kid," Cree shrugged before glaring at the image herself, "the Babies Next Door were sure to come snooping around once they caught whiff of your big bad 'death ray'."

"You mean…I have been sold out?" Feu muttered lowly. Slowly, his lips twisted into a snarl. His fingers clawed at the arms of the chair, his body began to shake with rage. The iguana sensed his master's oncoming anger and quickly leapt off of Feu mere moments before the boy sprang up and started yelling.

"FEU IS _NO ONE'S_ MERCHANDISE! If anybody be making the stab backs, it's ME!" He started to pace around his chair, still quaking with fury. "I bet it was zat cracker-box Marzipan who spoke the blab! He never could keep his lips zipped when there was sugary goodness on table!"

"Yeah. Let's just stand around and mope about that," Cree offhandedly stated as she went back to filing her nails. Suddenly, she looked up and blinked innocently. "Or here's a crazy idea, why don't we alert the entire compound and have a knife in her back before she gets to the lab? Just thought I'd toss that one out there."

"…Yes! Feu amazes himself with how brilliant he is sometimes!" Cree's groans went unnoticed as Feu suddenly leapt on his terminal, preparing to blare off the alarm and have that girl disappear. "Let's see how well you dance under pressure, my stupid blonde…wait to the minute." Feu trailed off as he looked back up to the feed once more. He saw the operative exiting the room and pulling her face-mask back on, but there was something about her face that struck a cord in his memory.

"Computer, put eyes on camera seven, rewind the track, and pause the beat at twenty point two seconds." The computer followed his command by blowing up the footage from camera seven across the entire screen. The footage then rewound itself and paused at the moment where Feu could get a clear look at the girl's face. Then it all hit him like a teenager with puberty.

That bouncing sun-tinted hair, those sparking mocha orbs, that figure that carried itself with smooth groove grace that was only rivaled (and beaten by) his own. It was his eternal dream, and never ending nightmare. Like one of those nightmares where you wake up with the cold sweat and ask yourself, 'le why?' but don't really regret it because it brought back fond memories, then you start to cry once you remember 'she left you!' and it is all to-the-tradgey! It was the girl he didn't think he could ever forget. It was her.

It was _her_!

"It. Is. HER!" Feu growled hatefully as he jabbed his finger at the screen for emphasis. "It is rooty toot, siren singing, warm feeling, bubble smiling, pug-faced, double-timing, stamp-on-ze-heart-until-she-is-no-more _Rachel McKenzie_!"

"Ah, Numbuh 362. I wondered why they only sent one brat," Cree uttered to herself. Back during her last days of sector leader, she had heard talk about the up-and-rising stealth tactical officer of sector Q. The teenager then blinked and caught up with what Feu had just spouted. "Wait, you know her?"

"_All_ to ze well." Feu grumbled as he sank into his chair. "And this be no small time deal. We're not talking about 'hey I know you from grocery store so let's follow each other's blog, no?' type history. We talking 'bout tragedy filled, tear-jerking, no happy ending, 'angst so juicy you can get fat and lazy off it then feel all mopy depressed' type history!" He then put his arm over his face in a dramatic fashion while his iguana hopped back up and tried to comfort him. "Grief!"

"Yeeah," Cree awkwardly coughed into her hand. "Soo…we're gonna sick the ninjas on her now, right?"

"Oh no no NO!" Feu suddenly leapt back up, his reptile being knocked off by surprise. But Feu didn't give it any notice as he went on. "Are you blind to the vision fate is beaming into us? She left Feu being nothing but withering ash on swing-set…but like phoenix, he came back hotter zan ever baby!" he laughed before he darkly smirked at Rachel's image. "And now destiny has brought her two-stepping 'round MY truff. It is too perfect to pass up! It's my turn to play the payback track, and Feu likes to serve up his revenge greasy sweet! Heh heh heh!"

"…And you're going to do that by unleashing the ninja force _I'm_ paying for? _Right_?"

"Your simpleminded thought track is really starting to bum me down, teenage-nanny person." Feu swiveled in his chair and gave Cree new orders regarding the blonde spy. "Go and wait for our super sneaky guest at the entrance to my lab. Then, bring her to Feu."

"See, this is where we're havin' a failure to communicate," Cree growled out. "The only reason I came out all this way to babysit your butt is because your parents are stinking rich. The only reason I called up those stupid ninjas for protection is because YOU said you had a weapon that could end those babies once and for all. And now you want me to throw away that chance and half of what I'm making on this job just because you have some grudge against blondie?" She then shook her head as she pulled out a communicator. "Nu uh. I'm not getting paid enough for that kinda risk. You're just gonna have to be a good spoiled little brat and settle for the ninjas cutting her in two." She then prepared to alert the ninjas herself, but that was before Feu put a wad of cash in front of her face.

"You see the money," Feu intoned as he waved the dollar bills back and forth hypnotically. "You _like_ the money…"

"…So you want her gift-wrapped honey, or what?" Cree grinned as she snatched up the money. With this she could buy that new gown AND some new heels!

Feu chuckled as Cree went ga-ga over his allowance money. "Show her ze welcome mat." He then grinned as he slammed his fist down. "And by show, I mean BEAT!"

"Heh heh, comin' right up," Cree smirked as her B.R.A helmet enveloped her face. Then with grace and cunning to match any ninja's, she sunk back into the shadows and seemingly disappeared. Once she had left, Feu turned back to his screen and bored at Rachel's face once more.

"Ah chéri, you broke my heart so," he uttered softly before a wicked grin lit his face. "So now Feu will tap-dance all over yours! AH HA HA HA ha ha…ha ha…eh " He slowed to a stop then began to swirl the contents of his mug around with a bored look. "Maniacal laughter. It is cliché, no?"

_**-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-**_

**-Transmission Interrupted. Dig?**


	2. Objective 2

**Transmission Interrupted... Please Standby.**

…**Processing... Processing...**

**Link has been Reestablished. Now Resuming Transmission.**

* * *

With silent grace, Rachel smoothly slid down the pole and landed on the top level of scaffold platform. She looked over the side and scouted for any ninjas that might have been aware of her presence, but upon seeing them continue on as if nothing happened, she moved towards the door.

The metal entry was built into the mountain itself, which no doubt meant that her target was hidden in the interior. Pressing against the door, Rachel slowly pushed down on the handle and was mildly surprised that it creaked open with ease. These guys were just asking for it now. Deciding not to question her stroke of luck, the blonde carefully stepped inside, pulling the metal door shut with a quiet click behind her.

Once inside, Rachel pulled an about face to find that she was on another balcony inside the building. The girl walked to the railing and gazed out to the massive room.

The inside might has well have been a warehouse, stretching on long and wide from one end to the other. Dim lights shone down from the ceiling giving the area a faint glow which served to give the security a bit of an advantage. Looking down to the ground floor, Rachel spotted hundreds of large bulking box-shaped figures. Apparently, they were Feu's inventions he kept in storage. All of them were aligned in rows of dozens on the ground floor; each covered with a large patch-like cloth and tied down to the floor for extra precaution. Considering the ninja she interrogated said the death ray was going to be used in a test run in the morning, she quickly downplayed the possibility that it could in one of those crates.

As her eyes adjusted to the new light, Rachel scantly made out squads of ninjas patrolling up and down the rows. With so many of them concentrated together in the building, she didn't think she could get away with taking out any she accidentally stumbled across as she did outside. So no more causalities until the death ray had been disabled. She shifted her look up and locked on the double doors on the other side of the room, that's where she needed to go.

Suddenly she glanced to the side as she heard footsteps climbing up the stairs. Backing away from the railing, she quickly looked around for an escape route. She then glanced up, and saw the rafters along the ceiling. Thinking on her feet, she snapped out her hair-drying grapple gun and shot out a line for the steel rafters. Once it caught on, she pressed the button without a second thought and let the grapple pull her to the top of the warehouse area.

"I'm telling you man," the voice of a ninja echoed as he peaked the stairs. After a moment, two of them settled into positions on the balcony while staying in tune with the conversation. "I can remember the whole song, no problem. It's all memorized up here."

"Yeah right," the other scoffed. "You couldn't even properly recite the Creed of Silence."

"Hey, that was a trick question! How is anyone supposed recite the Creed of Silence when the first rule is _not_ to speak of the Creed of Silence?"

"That was the test, which you failed…three times."

The first ninja shrugged off the offense. "But this is different. This actually _matters_."

His comrade groaned, but surmised they had nothing better to do. "Fine then, _dazzle_ me."

"Ahem," the first man cleared his throat before he began. "~_This is a tale all about how my life got twisted_–"

"Fail."

"I hate you."

Above them, Rachel had long since ignored the bickering ninjas and started to parkour further into the base by moving along the rafters. She paced herself down the line and leapt over any gaps she came across. She landed on the next rafter and used her momentum to leap to the next one. On her next jump, her hands shot up midway and she latched onto rafters overhead. Imagining the monkey bar spike-pit exercise from training, she carefully moved down the line until she was at a well measured distance. Tensing with concentration, Rachel kicked her legs forward, swung back, and on the return swing, launched herself forward through the air.

At the arch of her leap, she whipped out her grapple gun once more and shot for a rafter above. When she heard the click of the hook catching on, she held the grapple over her head and went lax on the release button, allowing more grapple line to spew out. As she came down and swung using the grapple, the excess line allowed her to lower much closer to the ground level. Once close enough, she let go of the grapple. The hair-dryer grapple zipped up to the rafter, forgotten, and Rachel went down aiming for a row of crates.

Coming down towards the first one, Rachel dropped into a roll. She skidded across the surface, and kept her grunts silent as she bounced off to the following crate; sailing over an unknowing ninja all the while. Continuing her progress, she dropped onto her hands and flipped herself into the air. After preforming a series of somersaults, Rachel hit the ground with a light clatter. She peeked around the corner of a crate, and upon seeing the ninja disappear around the bin, she turned and sprinted for the double doors.

Once Rachel had ran, Cree stepped out from around a nearby crate. She watched as the blonde snuck in past the doors and only chuckled as her B.R.A helmet encased around her face.

"Finally," Rachel mumbled tiredly as she stepped into the hallway. She looked ahead and saw no other signs of life around, only doors and alternate passageways leading off to who-knows-where. Reaching to her belt, she pulled off a bulky cellular type device and flipped it open. Now with the information she hacked from the captain's computer combined with her mini F.I.N.D.I.T, locating the lab hopefully wouldn't be as time consuming.

Once the codes had been locked in, the radar pulsed and Rachel began to track the signal. "Let's get this over with."

The trip deeper into the inner compound had many twists, turns, and the occasional glitch from the F.I.N.D.I.T –"Who put this wall here!"– but the long night of sneaking, climbing, and tactical work had paid off at long last once Rachel crested a set of revolving stairs that put her in front of a large steel frame door.

"Let's see, we've got the secret base built on some undisclosed mountain, an army of ninja babysitters, and a warehouse of super evil doomsday weapons," Rachel snidely muttered as she entered the first code to open the door. She stepped back as it hissed open, and continued her thoughts aloud, "All we would need now is some exaggerated laser grid."

The door then opened, revealing one last short hallway leading back to the main lab door.

…and the hallway was coated in layers of lasers so thick that no human being could possibly hope to seep through them.

Rachel shook her head with a remorseful sigh. "When did something as cool as spying get so predictable?"

The blonde stepped as far as she could into the hallway without tripping one of many laser beams. Carefully studying the layout, she instantly picked out three openings she could make it through. Four if she was high on some sugar, but she hadn't had any candy in _hours_. But she supposed if she was lithe enough, precise enough, timed her moves right, and started by kicking off the wall exactly seven inches up from her current standing point, she could make it no problem.

But she was feeling lazy tonight.

Rachel reached to a secure place on her pouch and gently placed whatever was inside on the floor. Once she stood straight, her hazel eyes sparkled with child-like fawning and a grin was noticeable behind her face-plate. "Besides, you've been dying to do more field-work, haven't you?"

On the floor with its whiskers twitching in excitement, was a small chestnut furred hamster, with a light patch of golden tinted fur around its right eye. The small KND pet scanned its surrounds, stopping and tilting its head once it saw the lasers. It looked back its owner, and lifted its paw up pointing towards the grid.

"That's right," Rachel nodded, praising her pet. "Just take 'em out for me girl."

The hamster waved her paw around in a cocky manner before getting to work. The HND trained pet began sniffing the floor, her nose twitching with every scent she picked up. She then began moving closer to the lasers, but due to her frame, she simply passed under them; as if she was just ignoring them. Her trail took her to a spot on the wall where the scent seemed strongest. Sniffing around the area, she picked at the wall until something came loose. With more forceful bites and scratches, she pried the loose metal open enough to reveal a series of wires running along the length of the wall from the inside. The critter made mischievous scuffles as she wiggled her way through the opening and began chewing away.

Rachel waited for results, and it wasn't long before she got them. Before her, the immense laser grid began to dim and flicker. Some had shut down completely while others struggled to stay online. She made out a faint pop from where ever her hamster disappeared, and then the remaining lasers flashed brightly before humming and fading away. When they were all down, her hamster reemerged from the hole in the wall, stood on her hind legs, and made a sound that resembled "ta da".

"Great work, Bon-Bon," Rachel cooed as she scooped the rodent into her hands. She unclasped the safety pocket, and the hamster retreated back into it until she was needed once more. With that taken care of, Rachel headed straight for the access terminal so she could move on to the final phase of the mission.

She loosened her fingers as she descended upon the computer. With her refined hacking skills, she made short work of any outlining programs and targeted on the lock system. As expected, the screen requested an access code. As she typed it in, she went over her escape plan.

"I'll have at least three minutes before the M.A.R.B.L.E's go off, so I could be back outside in two. That should give me a minute before the alarm blares. Okay, so if I go over the power-lines again, I can be at the west wall and backtrack down the–"

"ACCESS DENIED."

The voice of the computer shocked her, and she looked down aghast to see the system had not accepted her code. "What?" she asked while trying again.

"ACCESS DENIED."

Rachel blinked, before pulling out her hand-held F.I.N.D.I.T and going over the code once more. "I…I must of put in a nine by accident," she reasoned with herself. If she had come all this way just to find out those idiot ninjas managed to pull a fast one over her…no. She had seen and heard these guys. There was no way they were _that_ smart–

"ACCESS DENIED."

"What the _fudge_!" she snapped, mashing down on the terminal with built up frustration. "Are you serious? I, like, SO do not have time for this!" Years of work to suppress her native speak went down the drain as she kicked the computer. "Worst. Mission. Ever!"

After forcing herself to calm down, Rachel went back to working the computer. Her eyes switched back and forth from the code she had on her hand held and the screen as she gave input. She paused between each number just to make triple-ly sure she put in the right one. Once the painstaking process was done, she held her breath as she pressed enter.

Then, she nearly blew another gasket when the computer refused it. "Oh, COME ON! Why isn't this stupid thing working?"

"Try 839271. We rotate passwords every third Monday."

"Thanks! These stupid numerical codes can be such a pain– CRUD!" Rachel frantically scrambled away from the terminal a split second before it exploded. She tore her gaze away from the crackling computer, and her eyes bulged at who she saw.

Cree stood there, shrouded in her Battle Ready Armor, and smirked under her helmet as she lowered her smoking gauntlet slightly. "I know, right?"

Rachel shook off any surprise and focused intently on the teenager. Cree fired off another round but Rachel smoothly sidestepped to avoid it. She jumped towards the wall as another shot went off, then kicked off it just before the beam ricocheted off of it. As she came down, Rachel's hand whipped out her concealed blaster, and the blonde already had the Teen Ninja on her sights mere seconds before she hit the floor–

_FFFT!_

"Ah!" the blonde gasped as something stung her neck. Her hand reached up and plucked the object out, and she paled as she recognized the small dart. Suddenly she felt light-headed as she lost her grip of the dart and her weapon. She staggered around drunkenly for a moment before she started to collapse. "You all totally suuuuuu…"

Once Rachel had fell down and out, Cree clicked the side of her helmet and it silently unveiled her hidden features. She smirked down at the operative then turned her attention upwards into the shadows of the ceiling. "Nice work boys."

Two ninjas landed behind Rachel's body from above. One ninja stowed away his blowgun and bowed whilst the other unsheathed his knife. He flipped it in his hand and slowly brought it up only to be stopped by Cree grabbing his wrist.

"Slow down there, stabby. Mister big bad 'Professor' wants to deal with this brat personally," she tutted as she wagged her finger scoldingly. She let go of the ninja and bent over to toss the limp blonde over her shoulder. After adjusting to the kid's added weight, she frowned as she surveyed the hallway. "Check the area to make sure she didn't leave any surprises, and change the access codes again." The two only nodded before turning to carry out their orders. Now alone, Cree adjusted Rachel and strutted back to where Feu was waiting.

Unknown to Cree, a pocket on Rachel's belt fumbled until the small head of Bon-Bon poked out. The hamster gazed around, confused, and made an alarmed squeak as she saw her owner unconscious. She looked further up and ducked back into her pocket once she saw the face of a miffed teenager. But seeing that Cree hadn't noticed her yet, Bon-Bon took a risk and hopped out of Rachel's pocket and onto the floor. Once she landed, she tensed. She slowly craned her neck around and made a relieved sound when Cree only continued on unaware.

Now becoming serious, the trained hamster quietly trailed Cree.

* * *

The first thing Rachel began to notice was the incredible feeling of drowsiness slowly seeping out of her. She made a series of discomforted moans as her body began to feel sore and stiff in places she didn't even know she had. Ugh, she must have over did it a bit on that recon mission last night. With that in mind, she relaxed and attempted to snuggle deeper into her bed sheets.

But in trying that, she discovered a few unsettling things. First and foremost, she couldn't move her arms and legs. Despite every frantic exertion, her limbs would not budge. After a few more tries, she found that something was constrained around her wrists and ankles. This led her into realizing that this wasn't her bed. At all.

Now more alert, Rachel began to open her groggy eyes.

It was all a blur at first, and the glow of the fluorescent lights wasn't helping her eyesight. After blinking away the brightness, Rachel firmly studied her new surroundings. She confirmed her earlier thoughts when she peered down to see herself constrained to a round metallic table. Steel cufflinks scratched at her wrists, and kept her centered whether she liked it or not. Rachel slackened in her efforts to break free and gazed out to the rest of the large room.

A dome shaped ceiling greeted her as she looked upwards but she had to avert her eyes once the lights became to intense to stare at. When she looked around, she quirked a brow at all the shiny, seemingly high technological machinery. Large devices twice her size beeped and flashed with numerous multicolored lights, and computer monitors flickered with data she couldn't begin to comprehend. Where the heck was she? Some secret lab?

That's when she groaned as she remembered what happened earlier. She was attempting to sneak into the Professor's lab but someone had locked her out by changing the password. That's when the Teen Ninja attacked and someone stuck her with a tranquillizer dart while she was distracted. So she had been knocked out, and taken prisoner.

"Fantastic," she grumbled as clenched and unclenched her fingers. Okay, it wasn't that hopeless. With her fingers still mobile, there were several escape tactics she could use. Suddenly she yelped when a tiny shock surged through her restraints. Once it wore off, she sighed once she realized whatever that was had just numbed her arms and legs. "Well, no one said escaping is ever easy."

"Escape? There is no escaping once Feu has ze grip! Heh heh!"

"Feu?" Rachel mumbled unsure as the voice surprised her. Once it all clicked, she pressed against her restraints and growled. "Show yourself!"

But then all her ire died as the lights dimmed. Her face then slowly transformed from infuriated to completely bewildered as thumping music started to play in the background. And then the disco ball dropped from the ceiling. "…wha?"

"Zat's right! You's about to lay those eyes on ze one true prize!" Dazzling lights and colors flashed around the lab as the voice boomed out from the surround sound speakers. "Check yourself, mon chéri, for you have found yourself tapping to ze wrong tango! Compared to zis rad bad bro, you are out-to-the-matched!"

Rachel laid there completely stunned, feeling that she was being conned into some outrageous gag. The child then defied all logic as her eyes widened even further as a hole opened in the center of the floor. A mist started to spray out into the area as a shadowy figure began to rise out of the chamber.

"You must ask yourself, le who? Whose genius makes all posers weep in envy? Who molds ze pain into gain? Who brings smooth to the groove, the rad to ze lab? Who is hotter zan ice, and colder zan flame? Ask yourself…ASK YOURSELF!"

The figure, who Rachel assumed was talking, raised his arms into the air, and hip-thrusted with the pulsating beat. The disco ball spun even faster and the multicolored light show seemed to merge around the dancing shadow.

"He is an enigma beyond the dance floor of logic. His brilliance; so cruelly misunderstood! He is the real reason you are here, do not deny this!"

The spotlight rained down on his form, illuminating his appearance. A boy, perhaps her age, dressed out in emerald leather clothing, just wildly 'getting down' with his own theme music. Suddenly, he twirled, then froze. His head was lowered and the music stopped. After a dramatic pause, he spoke once again.

"Embrace my passion. Embrace my muse," he give an oily smirk as he rose up. Smug eyes sparkled with excitement behind those blood red visors as the midnight haired child finished his introduction. "Embrace the super cool, Professor Feu!"

After proclaiming his namesake, the lighting of the lab returned to normal. A long period of silence settled in. Feu stood there, still smirking as he waited for Rachel to absorb his funky fresh intro with an expectant look.

But she just laid there, staring at him. His smirk dimmed. Stare. A small smile now. Stare. Lip twitch. Stare.

…okay, now he was annoyed. "Well?"

"…" Rachel continued to just stare. Finally, she showed signs of movement when she actually blinked. "So _that's_ why I should never do drugs."

"I would think twice -then once more again- before speaking the mock talk, my dear," Feu said as he clasped his hands behind his back. "You are in Feu's company now."

Regaining some semblance of a serious demeanor, the blonde glared as the young french boy stepped closer. "So you're the Professor?"

"In ze flesh, baby," he chuckled. "Fate; she loves to play the ironic twist, no? Never in most far out daydreams did I think you and Feu would cross the walk again. But now, here you are! Trapped like a bat in a tanning booth," he mused to himself as he tapped at his chin. "It is like super sad tragedy poem where somebody dies in the climax after surprise baby is born, only zis is comedy! And Feu laughs!"

"Wait," Rachel interrupted, confused. "Who's baby is being born?"

"Your naivety wounds me!" he dramatically cried. "And after all ze double trouble Feu went through to bring you to the front row seat. I even hired top backstabber, aren't you special?"

"Top backstabber?"

"Oh no, please continue on," Rachel looked over to the source of the voice and frowned when she spotted Cree leaning against a machine flipping through a magazine. The Teen Ninja glanced up from her readings to look over the children for a second before reading the next article. "Pretend I'm not even here."

"Numbuh 11," the blonde stoically stated. Cree sneered at the mention of the name, but didn't look up from her magazine. "Is this what you've lowered yourself to now, teenager? Some cheap nanny for hire?"

"Come back to me when mommy stops buying your dollies for you and we'll see what work YOU end up doing," she offered as a rebuttal. She turned to another crisp page and suddenly began chuckling. "Besides girl, you should thanking me for reuniting you with your little boyfriend. Heh heh."

"Boyfriend?" Rachel exclaimed insulted. She looked towards Feu again and offered him a sharp glare. "I don't even know who this nutjob is!"

"You oily, spoiled blonde she-devils always be playing the same tune," Feu growled hatefully as his fists clenched. "It's all bubbly smiles and cheap fluttering lashes to sink the claws in. You make us love it, make us work these bleeding fingers down to pale roots of ze bone. But once the wells be drained drier zen salt, it's the same 'I don't know you! Don't associate with me! I has ze fancy restraining order!' type mumbo jumbo."

"Okay. I didn't understand a word of what you just said, but here's something YOU need to understand," Rachel pressed, "other then your fancy stage name, or what was in the mission specs, I have no earthly idea who you are. Are we clear now? I don't know you."

"That is the point!" Feu raged. "You left Feu in the dust, forgotten! But he never began to forget YOU, miss Rachel!"

"How do you know my name?"

"Feu knows all there is to know! I know of whack-bat sibling, know of stupid play-pretend codename, I know all those tracks and ze director's cut!" he heaved as he pointed a shaking finger in her direction. "I know _everything_, miss Rachel!"

"…so you're a stalker."

"I don't need to stalk! I knew you back when it was hard to walk! I knew you back before you knew how to talk ze sassy snark!" the boy growled. His pet iguana slithered out of his pocket and climbed the length of his jacket before settling on the perch of his shoulder. "I knew you back when you were just 'nother dumb blonde cracker-box!"

Rachel didn't need a translator to figure out he was out right insulting her. "I'm pretty sure I would remember a complete spaz like _you_."

"Your snips are in one ear, and bye-bye out ze other," Feu shrugged off with an air of indifference. He tore his gaze away from the contained girl, looked around his glorious lab, and smiled with sinister pride at all the deadly contraptions he crafted with his artistic style. "Ah, but I suppose ze fault is unclear. All of it IS your fault, but the bouncer of comprehension just ain't letting you in."

Rachel grimaced as she spared Cree a side glance. "Are there, like, subtitles for this guy or what?"

"It gets worse," Cree muttered. "Trust me."

"Maybe some knocks to the noggin will beat some beats into your memory," Feu grumbled as he walked up to the side of the table. He glared down at Rachel and rapped his knuckles against her forehead. "Pre-K! Greedy snack-time rave craves! This is in ze way back! Before I became the combo of brilliance and style that is Feu worthwhile! Does zat bell ring-a-ding?"

"Cut it out!" Rachel protested as he knocked on her skull. He finally ceased, and she glowered at him as he stepped away. "When I get out of this thing I'm going to ring YOUR bell! And I did not go to Pre-K with some hip-hop wanna be french kid…" But for some strange reason, her spit fire tirade trailed off as something began to click.

Oh no. She didn't ACTUALLY used to know this clown, did she?

But she remembered _something_ now that he had forced it out of her. She took a long hard look at the child-genius, and tried to picture him as someone else. Take away those over-the-top visors, the tacky leather jacket and excess hair gel, the image would seem somewhat familiar. She then thought back to her Pre-K days before she even joined the Kids Next Door. Something about the phrase "french kid" struck a cord somewhere. She waited for it to come to her, but still nothing solid.

It was Pre-K, how was she supposed to remember any of that? It had to be something really memorable. Like the time the teacher got locked out of the room during nap-time, or that shy french kid they had in their class for a few–

"Wait," Rachel stopped. Her mouth dropped open for a small gasp of recognition before looking at Feu in a new light. "Were you that french kid that was in our class? He was shy and always got candy for saying the right answer, what was your name…Oh! William! That's–"

"FEU! It is Professor FEU!" the child snapped, taking Rachel by surprise. He then snarled at her, his eyebrow twitching as his iguana hissed along with him. "Sing zat tune wrong again, and you'll be dancing to a broke beat with those toothpick legs! And they would be some bent up toothpicks!"

"Okay, now I KNOW you're just putting random words together," she muttered whilst rolling her eyes. She arched a thin brow as she watched Feu calm down and replayed her scant memories of William from Preschool. Saying the two mental images were drastically different was an understatement.

Rachel shook her, still not quite believing the two were the same person. But then again, she didn't know William that well in the first place. "Guess it's true what they say about the quiet ones…"

"Ah yes. Before I embraced the heated macho zat is Feu, I was oh so pressured by the tight shell of indecisiveness." A hand rose to pet his iguana before he gave a cold stare to his captive. "But the heartbreak you left me to tumble and bumble in was ze final push before I could break free and groove to me own two-step."

"What do _I_ have to do with anything?" Rachel briskly asked. "I barely even knew you!"

"Well then, mon chéri, it seems your greatest flaw has been put under ze spotlight, center stage!" he closed his eyes as he reminisced. "Ignorance."

* * *

The head of a small raven haired toddler peaked out behind a pair of womanly legs, eyes glittering to the brim with apprehension. Before him was a bustling wave of children his own age, but they paid him no mind. Many were too busy drawing doodles for parents, or indulging in playtime. William shuffled his feet and withdrew further behind his mother. He wished they had arrived when everything was more calm. He peered up to see his mother still trading words with the teacher. He tried to decipher their English, but he was far too nervous to adeptly process it all at the moment.

_-"Feu had just gifted himself to the bore shores of America, even though he did not know zis yet. But my mind was in binds, still moved from our…uh, move. I could not fully singo da lingo, or blend with ze trends. So, in order in to prepare to get down with the education system, mama enrolled Feu in ABC Little School."-_

William's cheeks flustered over when his mother lavished him with affection. She always did get a tad emotional when it came to this type of thing. But then the misty eyed adult surprised him when she retreated back out the door without him. Where was she going? Why was she leaving him here? Panic began to settle in as he held the lunch she packed him tighter.

He flinched when a hand clasped his shoulder, and he gazed up to see the teacher conveying a warm smile. Sensing his distrustful vibe, she calmly motioned him to the other children of the room, telling him that free-play wasn't quite done yet and that he should make new friends. Genuinely curious, he made his way under the archway to a boy and girl near the play area.

_-"Feu _tried_ to appease ze crowd, he tried so very hard! I ask all schooled coworker-kids could I join their line, roll with their group. And what do they do? They mock Feu for his neat uniqueness!"-_

"Uh," William stuttered out before the two children before him. They had stopped their activity and just stared at him unblinkingly. It was a tad creepy. His mind with abuzz with ways to make an solid first impression, he just had to greet him. But how so? Should he say, "hello" or, "hey"? What about, "how's the weather"? Why did they have to have so many words that meant the same thing? He didn't know which one seemed right for this situation.

So, in failing to choose something they could understand, he fell back on his native tongue and hoped for the best. "Bonjour?"

After he spoke, an awkward pause followed. Before he could say anything else, the two burst out in light giggles. He was confused, what was so funny? But the boy answered him when he pointed at him, smiled, and said, "You talk funny!"

There was no malice or bias in his mirthful tone, but William gave no notice to that. His mind clenched around what it had just translated. They thought he talked weird. They…were making fun of him? That had to be it. Why else would they be laughing at him so? He bit his lip, sniffled, and turned. Walking away feeling neglected as the children continued to giggle unaware.

"He he he, you sound real funny! That's neat!" the girl chimed in, not knowing William had left them. "Do you wanna play House with us? You could be…where'd the funny kid go?" she questioned once she finally noticed that William had disappeared. She turned to her playmate, shrugged, then went back to their game.

_-"Seeing as those cruel cads had shunned me, I was left to muse all on ze lonesome! Feu dove into his studies, shielding himself to all who walked his way. He would not put out the heart-sleeve only for it to be fondled so hatefully! Le grief!"-_

William sat alone at a table during another free-play day putting together puzzles to stimulate his mind. He gave a wistful stare to all the other children, wanting to be accepted by them. But they thought he 'talked funny' which _obviously_ meant they saw him as different, and being different here meant you were not accepted. That's how it worked in America, right? Not matter. He would not bother them anymore, lest they say more hurtful snips.

The french child placed the final jigsaw piece down, completing his sixth puzzle. He then decided to try something easier and time himself. But as he reached for the one-hundred fifty piece puzzle, the teacher called out declaring it snack-time. Blinking, the boy glanced around the room and saw kids ripping open their lunchboxes and pulling out their snacks. Baby carrots, apple juice, sugar cookies, the list went on. But there was one table of children that caught his attention and caused him to frown with spite.

There, three tables down, was a group of toddlers munching away on ice cream sandwiches. He snarled with a combination of utter disgust and envy as the toddlers made delighted sounds with every bite. It wasn't fair that they got to enjoy one of life's finest treats while he couldn't. He held his scathing glare even as he reached down for his own lunchbox. He wished one final threat of ill-will on the ice cream snackers before looking down for his own snack. However, he then grinned at the sweet dessert his mama had packed him.

Cheesecake.

_-"But on zat day, a certain golden haired siren came 'round singing her tune…And zis be no 'will you sing at birthday party during clown act?' type singing. We's talkin' bout some major 'Blama Slamming Oscar-Fuse-Grammy' type singing!"-_

Since his sweet tooth was howling at him today, William forwent the main course of his lunch and prepared to dig in to his slice of home-made dessert. But before he could even poke at it with his fork, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

And that's when he saw her.

Just a blonde girl, yet she just wasn't a blonde girl. Her soft shoulder cut hair gave off a glowing shine. So elegant, he thought it deserved to be on a canvass in a gallery at the Musée du Louvre. Then there were those innocently fluttering lashes awarding him with the view of those two hazel gems. So much emotion, if he had pen and paper, he was sure he would've have jotted down several poems by now. The blonde stood there, mere inches away. His heart pounded and he offered a timid smile. What would such a pretty girl want with him? She wasn't here to mock him as well, was she? Oh, words coming from a beauty would be too harshly true.

But she said not a word at first, only let those lips jut into an adorable pout. She drew random circles with the toes of her shoe on the floor, then gave him an incredible puppy dog performance. "Can I have your cheesecake? Pwetty pwease?"

William's mother could only wonder why her son outright begged her to pack cheesecake from that day forth.

_-"My heart, it was a fluttering out the ill chills and booming with ze love! What started that day was so fine, so mine! So nice! It was then, Feu had purpose! Purpose to serve blonde angel, make her roll out ze tears of happy joy joy and comfort her like in sappy love novel! I did so much for you... _

_I learned lingo from best inspirations so I could properly profess my love in words you could nod to!"-_

William sat at home one night, seated in front of the television. A notepad was clutched in his hand, and mountains of videos were stacked all around him. Picking one, he shoved it in the VCR and waited for it to play. After a minute, the screen flickered to life, showing footage of an old hip-hop video. The young toddler arched a brow at the wild clothing, and they way they shifted to and fro to the music. This is what people here considered cool?

"This beat is blammin', yo!"

"Yea-Yea! The mix is tight and the funky flow is sweet!"

He jotted down every word he heard. But he was no copy-cat. He had to have his own style if he wanted impress the love of his life. He needed to have passion with his speech –no, his _lingo_. He needed to reach out and think cool…think _smooth_. Yeah! That's it! He reviewed his notes, mixing and mashing words to create his rhythm.

"Sweet," he muttered while tapping his pen against his chin. Finally, he grinned in triumph as he continued to write. "No no. _Greasy_ sweet!"

_-"I protected you from biggest, baddest bullies…"-_

William strutted around the play area whistling an upbeat tune while scribbling elegantly in his notepad. While all the other toddlers around him used their free-play to slug about in manners akin to undomesticated neanderthals, he decided to put his mind to better use and create award winning sonnets for his sweetheart. Maybe this one should be centered around the pureness of her voice. Oh yes, the divine tones from her vocal cords were so vivid to him, why he could hear them loud and proud right now.

"AAAAHHHHH!"

He froze when he actually heard Rachel scream. Looking across the area, he gasped when he saw the girl standing in front of some other boy with a contorted expression. He quickly pieced together what was going on and felt anger surge within him. That bully was picking on his blonde flower! Well, that would not fly, not at all. It was then he knew what he had to do to the poor fool.

"WA KA KA!" William screeched his battle-cry as he advanced on the bully.

He squinted his eyes shut, pulled his face back for safety, and blindly stepped forward while swinging his hands around. With luck, he would karate chop the crud out of the kid. Unfortunately, he had no idea where he was going. So when he was upon Rachel and the bully, his foot tripped over a discarded toy truck.

Eyes widening, he squealed in terror as he rolled straight between the two, and only came to a stop when he crashed into a large tower of building blocks. The multicolored blocks fell apart and toppled all over him while the child who had stacked them began to cry.

The 'bully' blinked at what he just witnessed. "Who was that?" the brown haired boy asked aloud.

"Ha! You lose!" Rachel giggled as she finally stopped screaming. She opened her eyes, and inhaled before smirking. "I CAN yell the longest!"

"Nu uh!" the boy snapped back, having completely forgotten about the weird kid buried under building blocks. "AHHHHHHHHHH!"

_-"I benched pressed so I could push you to tippy top of swing set…"-_

Rachel cried with glee as she swung to and fro on the playground swing. Her short mop of hair fluttered in the wind created as she came up, then only to speed back down. The girl closed her eyes as she envisioned herself flying to great heights. It was just her, the wind, and the metal cricks of the swing as she descended downwards.

However, unknown to her, William stood by near by. The french boy watched as she swung with grace, but made sure to keep his distance. With her current velocity and peaking angle, it would leave a real big boo-boo on his person if she crashed into him.

But as he watched, he would not dare ignore her cries of mirth. She sat there, having the time of her life. It looked like so much fun. A light bulb went off as he had an idea. If he could push her even higher, then she would most definitely have more fun, and in return, it would merit some major points for him!

He astounded himself with how smart he was sometimes.

Waiting for her begin her return swing upwards, William sprinted out and placed himself right where she would come down. After judging the distance, he puffed out his chest, and stuck his hands forward. As soon as her back made contact with his palms, he would back peddle at least seven and a half steps. Once at that distance, he would run with all his might, and push her with extreme force upwards. Given his oh so _amazing_ strength and stamina, she would swing at a one-hundred eighty degree angle and–

_THUD!_

"GAHH!" However for William, he was so caught up in over thinking his plan that he failed to notice Rachel heading straight for him. He paid for this mistake when she crashed into him, causing her to come to a complete stop, and him fly off somewhere back into the playground.

"Heeeeey," Rachel whined out when she halted. Why did she stop? The blonde toddler pouted as she looked around. It _felt_ like she hit something, but she couldn't see anything around her. Shrugging it off as non-important, she lowered her feet to the ground and walked back to build up starting momentum. This time she would go super-high. Heck, this time she would go all the way to the moon!

_-"I chased away nightmares…"-_

William marched back and forth over Rachel's slumbering form during nap-time. He held a stern glare on his face while he gripped the yardstick he _borrowed_ from the teacher. He tensed as he noticed a fly land a few inches away from Rachel's head. Before it could even make a single buzz, William relentlessly beat down on the poor insect. Even after it was dead, he continued to beat against the floor to ensure the disgusting thing was no more.

"Mmfm."

William stumbled mid-swing as he heard a distressed noise from below. He looked down to see Rachel's face scrunching up in discomfort as she shuffled around under her blanket. She was having a bad dream, but there was no need for alarm. With his presence, he would make sure no bad mind jives ruin her twenty minutes of nap. His hand reached out to comfort her, but when it got too close, Rachel's hand suddenly snapped up and grabbed his wrist. He yelped, then whined as he tried to tug his arm free. Since when did girls have that strong of a grip?

"STRANGER DANGER!"

She suddenly began to shout in her sleep. Before William could even contemplate her random words, he found himself being flung across the room. As he sailed over the napping toddlers screaming, Rachel's face relaxed and she snuggled deeper into her pillow.

_-"I shielded you from rain,"-_

William clenched his umbrella as he searched for Rachel among the departing children. Everyone was in a hurry to grab their coats and lunch boxes, that he couldn't tell anyone apart.

The teacher's voice drew his attention to the door, and he saw the woman lead a group of his classmates outside as she zipped up her jacket. In the back of the group was Rachel. She grinned excitedly as she trotted along in her slick orange raincoat and followed the group outside.

William quickly rushed after her. He managed between keeping his eyes on her and undoing the clip to his umbrella as he ran to the door. The freezing rain slapped him in the face the moment he stepped outside, but he would not be deterred. With a cheer of success, the umbrella finally snapped open, and to his luck, Rachel hadn't left yet. She was off the side, trying splash in every puddle that came her way.

Evening out his coat, the boy took confident steps out onto the sidewalk until he was right behind the unsuspecting blonde. He raised his umbrella over her, and opened his mouth to say something. Sadly, that was when the wind picked up speed. The force of nature blew his umbrella away, with himself still attached to it.

Rachel paid no mind to any of this. Her tongue jutted out in concentration, she wiggled in her boots, and she leapt up to make the biggest splash in the history of ever. But sadly, she never came down, for that was the exact moment her mother grabbed her from behind. Rachel then groaned as the woman carried her away while spraying her down with disinfectant and freaking out about how many germs she had picked up.

_-"I even towed all the ze backbreaking textbooks!"-_

Rachel skipped along happily in the play area while William struggled under the weight of–

_-"Since when do preschoolers have textbooks?"_

_"DO NOT INTERRUPT FEU'S TRAGIC VILLAIN BACKGROUND STORY!"_

_"Whatever."_

_"Now, as Feu was saying before he was so rudely bashed by heckler, I did all zis for you, and so much more! The tasks were hard, the trails were trying, but Feu stuck it out. Like tootsie roll pop, I would lick and lick until gooey sweetness is mine! I did not care for sour exterior, ze beautiful center would be so nice. So fine! …but zen cruel day came when cold hard tearjerker truth was revealed."-_

It was another day, and another snack-time to be had. William sat at his own personal table, fending off anyone who tried to sit in the only other chair while he prepared. He placed two sweet smelling candles he dug out from his mother's closet as the centre piece, then went on to fill two champagne glasses with the finest apple juice he could find. Placing his hand to his lips, he praised his own décor before moving to set the plates.

"Er, William?" The boy looked up innocently at his teacher. The woman looked confused as she studied the table. "What…exactly are you doing, dear?"

William smiled. "William is prepping brunch!"

"I see…" she muttered carefully. Well, the boy was miles ahead of the learning curve. She could only assume this was some very sophisticated game of pretend and… "Why is that iguana wearing a tuxedo?"

William looked to his pet. There off to the side was his iguana wearing a tiny, hand-made tuxedo. The reptile just stood there lazily while the world's smallest violin laid next to it untouched.

"Uh," he began nervously, "he is my…how you say…er, show and tell?" He followed up his excuse with an award winning smile.

"Ah. That makes sense…I think. But still, playing with fire is a HUGE no-no mister!" she scolded as she leaned down to blow out the candles. She held her hand out expectantly, and William sighed as he relinquished hold of his pack of matches. The teacher stored them in her pocket, and prepared to leave the boy to his game. "Just make sure you clean up before free-time is…is…do I smell _incense_?"

"Uh–"

"THAT'S _MY_ RAINBOW MONKEY!"

"Oh dear," the woman sighed and turned to break up a looming dispute between two girls and a doll. William let out a long breath of relief and could only thank heavens for his luck. It was a sign that this would be a funky fresh day! As his thoughts wondered back to his lunch plans, he snapped at his iguana.

"Dimitri, you're cramping on William's style! You are supposed to be layin' down some smooth mood music, bro!" he chastened his pet. The iguana looked up to its owner, flicked out its tongue, then looked down to the tiny plastic toy violin with a somewhat curious gaze. William groaned and rubbed at his temple.

"Get your act together before she arrives!" William then turned away from his pet as he tapped his foot in anticipation. Where was Rachel? She always came to him exactly twelve minutes into snack time, and she was six point two second late! What could be holding her up? He had pulled out all the stops for this date. Bubbly apple juice, candle light, mood music that SOMEONE needed to start playing, and fresh PB&J with the crust sliced off. Everything was in place –everything but Rachel herself, that is.

William was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as he thoughts ran wild as to what could have happened to her. He was too busy preparing to actually notice if she came in today. What if she came down with some flesh eating disease? Or got hit by rush hour traffic? The possibilities were endless, and they frightened him. But before he could fully begin to panic, Rachel hummed as she walked by his table.

"Ah, there you are!" William called from his seat. When the girl kept on walking, his face dropped. "…Rachel?" At the mention of her name, she stopped and faced him curiously. It was then he noticed a flier in her hand. He was half tempted to ask what it was about, but he pushed the thought aside. "Every tick of ze clock without you by my side feels William with grief, but now that you are here, he feels like his rad clad self again!"

Rachel blinked at the strange kid. Who was this William guy? She ignored whatever the kid was saying as she looked around to classroom. It was then she noticed everyone sitting at tables and all sorts of food stacked around. She gasped as she suddenly remembered it was snack-time. She was so caught up with the big kid handing out fliers outside that she forgot.

Shaking her head, she coughed into her hand, and performed several throat exercises to muster up her sweetest, cutest voice. It was hunting hour and she was hungry today. She fluttered her lashes slowly and smiled. "Cheesecake, please?"

The boy melted under her gaze. Feeling prouder then ever, he began digging around in his lunchbox for his surprise treat. "No no no, what William has makes cheesecake look like chunky funk mystery meat! Once you chow down on zis, your taste buds will be getting ze one-two combo of 'pow!' and 'wow!'!"

Rachel blinked. "No cheesecake?"

"No. Today you shall feast your fine eyes on–"

"Bye," was all she said before continuing on her desired path.

"W-What?" William stuttered out as he shot up. He felt waves of dread seeping in as that one single word echoed. For once in his life, there was only one thought on his mind. The thought of her rejection. She…she was leaving him? No. No, that couldn't be it. Yet she just walked on and on, not even sparing a second glance. His heart constricted in his chest with every step that took her farther away. By her own doing. She…she didn't want him anymore.

Desperation began to kick in as he yanked out the custard he bought. Kicking out his seat, he began to call out to the blonde. "Wait! Custard tastes the exact same as cheesecake! It's just more gooey and – AH!" he yelped as he tripped over a toy truck. He fell over, his custard flying in the air, and his hand knocking against the table. The two champagne glasses tipped over and spilled their contents over his head.

Just when he thought it could get no worse, the custard returned and splattered in his face. He yanked the bowl off his head, and growled at the toy. "WHO KEEPS PUTTING THAT THERE?"

His anger was quelled the moment he heard Rachel's giggle ease its way into his hearing. He glanced up, and a lump caught in his throat at what he saw. There was Rachel, his blonde angel, sitting at another table with another boy. Her face beamed at whatever he was saying, and she broke out in joy when the brunet haired kid slid his cheesecake over to her. She munched away, and had no intention of leaving his side anytime soon.

William couldn't look away from the scene. His heart went to pieces bit by bit with every bite she took. He thought she understood him when all the other toddlers didn't. He thought he meant as much to her as she did to him. He thought he had found his one true peer. He thought he found the one kid who didn't think 'he talked funny' or was a 'smarty pants'. But for once, he appeared he thought wrong. She was just like the rest of them.

It was only then in that moment of anguish, that his iguana _finally_ started playing a sad tune on its violin.

* * *

"…you destroyed me. Made a mockery of me! You played my heartstrings like some practice harp, then threw me away once I sung ze song of fools!" Feu raged as his fist shook. "For days I toiled in misery. For hours I weep and ask why? For weeks I…what is zis clicking sound? It ruins my flow!"

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing. Go on," Rachel muttered while her hand fumbled with the lock on her cufflink. Her eyes shifted to Cree, who was still reading through her magazine, then went back to work on picking the lock. She allowed herself a grin when she heard the telltale jingle, and thought her escape was close. But that was when Feu decided to pause in his story of woe and slap at her hand. "Fudge!"

"You sneaky little cracker-box! You dare try to balm calm Feu after what you put him through?"

"Get over yourself," she groaned, "I was, like, three or four years-old."

"This is NO excuse! Love knows no limits, and the neither does wrenching heartbreak!" he continued on. After a dramatic pause, he smirked and clenched his fist. "But like love, there was no stopping destiny that was MOI! I used the last straw on the camel's back to start my fire. I took anguish, hatred, and shame and used it as fuel. Thanks to you, I broke free from restraints and let my brilliance dance like she was meant to! Now, shy-wise smart guy William has burned out, and all zat is left is ze heat that is Professor Feu!"

Cree looked up from her reading for the first time in his speech. She quirked a brow and looked somewhat annoyed. "Is he done yet?"

"You mean _I'm_ the reason you're the person you are today?" Rachel asked in a strained voice, "I suddenly feel ill."

"You should feel honored!" Feu spoke confidently as he ambled over to his terminal. His iguana leapt off his shoulder and onto the counter as he began inputting a series of commands. "Most cool cats would do away with cruel she-devils such as your un-fine self the minute they snoop where snooping is no-no, but not Feu! His style is FAR too advanced for that simple jazz."

Rachel blinked. "So you're going to let me go?"

"No," he put down without a second thought. He turned away from his personal control panel, and chuckled as he lowered his visors. "Stupid blonde, Feu has no intention of letting you weasel out of his clutches zis time. You left him without second thought, so now he shall rub success in your face!"

"Geez," Rachel muttered, "part of me would almost be flattered this is all because of me…then I remember you're crazy."

"You are so vain, mon cheri. Why should I settle for you when I have _her_?"

"Her?" Rachel blinked. She glanced over to Cree with confusion. "You mean the teenager?"

"No! Not her, _her_! Can you not hear her? She is here with me, she speaks to me, she sings to me, she whispers to me of what I must do."

"Have you been chugging cough medicine or something?"

"Cough? I have no cough. I have hands, and with zese hands I have given her form, I have given her shape, I have gave her breath! And after many lonely nights of me having and she be getting, she is done!"

"Oh, she's done? How wonderful for you…WHO THE HECK IS SHE?"

Cree smirked. "Jealous?"

"Shut up."

"She has been the apple of my eyes for so many years, my one true love! At long last, Feu has found something even hotter then he! The blueprints have been framed, the secret preparation deals have cleared the way for fame, and my mountain lab lair is all set for ze game!" he then snapped his fingers, a large screen lowered from the ceiling.

Rachel and Cree looked up to the screen as it flickered to life. It was clear that it was showing live feed from a tower at peak of the mountain, and Rachel frowned at the bright glaring sunlight. It was morning. How long had she been out? But that didn't really matter. What did matter was the large satellite dish capping the tower. The feed horn antenna reminded her of one those laser-beam cannons she saw on Doctor Time-Space and the whole dish of surrounded by numerous arrays of solar panels. After studying the device more, Rachel pieced together what it was and felt dread seep in as Cree chuckled darkly to the side.

"Bask in her greatness, do not deny what your eyes beam into your mind! It is no fib. For with her under my control, the world will finally know Feu's blazing heat! Behold," he announced as he drew attention to his death ray on the screen. "Project FLAMBE!"

_**-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-**_

**-Transmission Interrupted. Check it and spec it.**


	3. Objective 3

**Transmission Interrupted... Please Standby.**

…**Processing... Processing...**

**Link has been Reestablished. Now Resuming Transmission.**

* * *

Rachel's eyes relentlessly scanned over the contents of the screen. The large tower loomed over the mountain menacingly, even though she wasn't even there in first person. The amount of solar panels around the tower was ridiculous in their abundance, but she had to painstakingly admire the brilliance behind their strategic location and positioning. And then there was the satellite dish atop it all. Everything intelligence had feared was staring her the face.

Her mission was clear, that device needed to be destroyed.

Well, destroyed once she got free, she was reminded as her wrists tugged at her restraints again. Rachel scowled as she looked around the lab once more until her gaze landed an overly satisfied Feu. She quickly averted her attention back to the screen, to the device he so lovingly referred to as 'Project FLAMBE'. "So that's your big scary death ray?"

"Don't diss my art with such crude speak," Feu huffed. "But yes. Impressed? No need to say, answer is known."

"Oh, it is? That's fortunate, because the list of insults I mentally prepared would of dragged on for a while."

At Rachel's remark, Cree rolled her eyes as she counted down the seconds before Feu broke down into a temper tantrum, defending his project. But to her – and Rachel's – surprise, he made no sign of acknowledgment to her snarky comeback. In fact, he laughed.

"Such cruel words would be slap to ze face to most posers, but not me! Feu is beyond that noise, yo." He waved off, drawing attention to the screen once more. "As eye-popping as sight before you is now, to compare it to what's on the way would be bad joke. Like, a most lame loser following up witty sarcasm with phrase like 'that's what she said!'. Zis makes no sense! Who is this 'she' and why can she not say what needs to blabbed to Feu's face like man! Er, woman! Whatever!"

"Nice," Cree groaned, "he's confusing _himself_ now."

"Do not interrupt Feu when he is speaking his piece!" he retorted. Cree paid him no mind, causing him to rub at his temples as he recalled what he was talking about. "Feu's got the brains to plot a good game, zis is true. For years, I've searched for many ways to break out into the world, to show everyone my style and fine aura of class. I gotta bring in something new, gotta pump out something fresh! Something smooth and razzle dazzle that when put up against other attempts, there is no contest! Everything Feu does is art, and soon, the world will bare witness to it with a front row seat; whether they want to or not."

Rachel glared. "And you decide to go with a death ray? Couldn't come up with another way to express yourself?"

"What can I say? I love to leave an impression," Feu chuckled. He faced his screen fully, his hands stretching out to frame his diabolical creation. "And this is gonna be like a mark of greatness. For few can do, what Feu _can_ do! What has he done, you desperately ask to know? Easy peasy, he crafted a laser cannon that draws power from one thing more hotter than he; the sun, baby."

"Solar powered. Figured as much," Rachel mumbled. She drew that conclusion after she saw the reflectors. Her expression darkened as she frowned at Feu in an almost condescending manner. "But you're an idiot, _William_. Icarus was burned for being drawn to the sun, and now, you want to try and hold it in your hands!"

"How cute, dumb blonde cracker-box knows mythology; is Feu supposed to be wowed?" the boy scoffed as he shrugged off Rachel's scathing remarks. "Greek geeks ain't got nada on my essential style. Feu's got more fly than Icarus would ever know, and unlike Archimedes, my math was checked and spec'd before I even walked out the door. Once FLAMBE is prepped, I'm gonna rain down fire like it's confetti! No one will ever dare cross me again now zat I'm packin' literal heat."

"So what's your angle, then? Use this thing to get the world's cheapest tan?"

"Your small time vision disappoints Feu," he sighed, shaking his head as he snapped his fingers. The image on the screen flickered out before rising back up into the heights of the ceiling. The young inventor calmly strolled through his lab, his wicked, tooth-baring grin increasing with every step he took closer to Rachel. "This is big time, mon chéri. For when FLAMBE is running hot, Feu's gonna demonstrate his artistic vision by making with the beam spam, ridding the world of ze one thing that is seconded only to cruel you when it comes to channeling my ire."

The KND spy became slightly unsettled with how he approached her, but she would not show weakness, especially in front Cree and this creep. "What are you going to do?"

"Simple, with Project FLAMBE, I'm going to melt," Feu paused, snickering at the beauty behind his scheme. "the world's entire ice cream supply!"

Cree sneered. "…what?"

"WHAT?" Rachel's reaction was far more dramatic, to say the least. "You–you horrible little _monster_! Why on Earth would you want to do something like that?"

"Something exists that spouts to be cooler and smoother than me? No. No, that kinda jazz shouldn't be allowed to sing," Feu grumbled, his voice lowering to a growl. "But root of the calamity goes so much deeper. Feu is weighed down by heightened sensitivity and the worst possible gripping ice cream headaches! The pain…'nightmare' don't even measure it up right! One lick and I'm thrown into 'ooow', 'ooooh', 'woe woe wooooe'. I toss and turn in bed, cradling ze noggin wishing for end, man. End! I can't think, I can't blink, I can't form my flow! The torture I go through…Madness!"

"So?" Rachel snapped, not feeling the slightest pang of symphony for one who would even consider committing such a heinous crime. It was just unforgivable. "I mean, yes, brain-freezes suck, but that gives you no right to just destroy all the ice cream in the world! Just stop eating it!"

"And let others enjoy their icy treats while I am left to fizzle and sizzle on summer streets with the lonesome suffering? Sorry, but no dice." Feu gripped the sides of his jacket, straightening it out while sending Rachel a smug smile. "You know what they say, misery loves hostage situations."

Deciding she had heard of enough of this nonsense, Cree stepped forward and made her presence known. "If you babies are done whining about your popsicles and ice cream cones, then allow me to remind you, Professor, that there are bigger fish to fry! We had a deal!"

Professor Feu only rolled his eyes as he lowered his visor shades. "Yes, yes. We made big secret, mafia type, under-table handshake. This I know! You are like alarm clock; no matter how many times I be tappin' the snooze button, you never cease to make with BLAH BLAH BLAH!"

"Wait," Rachel paused. Feu's plans were sinister enough as they were, but if he made some prior agreement with _Cree… _This did not bode well. At all. "What are you talking about? What's going on?"

"While Feu may stay ever-fresh, he's only got two eyes. This thing is too close to party-hour for any loose screws, and I needed ze extra muscle-toting watchdogs to make sure everything stays silky smooth and tip-top tight. So, I traded favors with teenage-nanny person," he replied nonchalantly. "She supplies extra insurance, I supply heat from FLAMBE to bring down some Arctic Base."

Rachel's heart skipped a beat as his words sunk in. Cree's devilish grin from behind Feu wasn't helping calm her nerves either. Her mouth clammed up as the prospect of it all crashed down on her. They were going to obliterate the Arctic Base? "The…Kids Next Door Arctic Base?"

"Si, zat's the name! Kids Next Door…" Feu trailed off as it all dawned on him. He looked to Rachel, who appeared considerably pal, then turned to Cree, who only gave a sharp, confident nod. He suddenly felt overwhelmingly giddy, his hands coming together as a smile graced his face of its own accord. "Ahh, now the dots are making a picture! If you's rollin' with zese Kiddies Neighbor Door, then this Arctic Base is striking up something personal!"

"Listen Will- Feu," Rachel forced herself to correct. This was her mission. Everything was riding on how she acted. But if she failed to stop Feu in time, the destruction of the second most important Kids Next Door base and the loss of all those cadets and operatives would be on her shoulders. She did not want that. "There's no need to go blowing up bases like that. You think I'm trouble? You'll have to face a lot worse if you go through with this idiotic scheme –"

"I, am not, _idiotic_," he seethed. "You think I can't swing the bat, make home-run hitter? This is my operation. This is my turf. This is my game! Feu's holding all ze tips and tricks in his back pocket. He ain't gonna stand here and let a dumb blonde cracker-box like YOU undermine his profile!"

"You don't need me to do that! You're the one fooling himself! You actually believe that once she's got what she wants, Cree will let you do what you want with that death ray? She'll just sell you out and seize it for the Teen Ninjaz, leaving you in the dust!"

"You mean like you did?" Cree chuckled as she stepped out. Her hand landed on Feu's shoulder in something akin to a comforting manner as she knelled down to both of the kids' eye level. Feu's eyes became pensive; contemplating something while Cree continued on where she left off. "You see, honey, we Teenz do business differently. We don't throw away or turn our backs on such valuable assets because of some stupid rule or standard. We're gonna do right by poor Feu, unlike some spoiled brat who stomped all over his heart. Why, you didn't even apologize. I'm disappointed."

Rachel's fists clenched as she fought against her restraints again. This whole affair was stupid. So insane. Idiots blaming her for something out of her control. The blonde snarled at the teenager's smug face. "I'm not apologizing for something I didn't even do!"

Cree grinned as Feu tensed, his face darkening as his eyes snapped back to Rachel. His lips tightened, a scathing retort preparing to fire off, but he stopped himself. He closed his eyes, held a hand to his temple, and took a relaxing breath before conjuring up a fake smile. "This beat is becoming a snore bore. Feu grows so tried of your nonsensical chatter. I think it's high time you went out with whimper. So we'll shut your trap, with a trap. Clever, is it not?"

"What?" But Rachel's question was left unanswered as Feu maneuvered into an about-face, walking away from the captured blonde and heading towards a terminal off to the side. Anticipating what was happening, Cree followed the boy, sending wicked smirks Rachel's way; smirks that promised bad things. Like really bad things. Bad things way too gruesome to describe here.

"Feu likes to think of himself – wait, what is he saying – he IS two steps ahead of the groove! By the time you reach the dance floor, my slick feet are already dancing to a beat beyond your slow go hearing. But despite it all, your fashionably late entrance…I did not anticipate," he begrudgingly admitted. But he already went to work on treating that wound to the ego with how his fingers expertly worked at the controls of his console. "But you no worry no mind! Last minute preparations are my thing, man."

Rachel face wrinkled with confusion. Satisfied with whatever calculations he had made, Feu peered over his shoulder as he slowly twisted a blinking knob. The operative was startled as a slight rumble shook the lab and sounds of shifting metal below her took her attention. Leaning as far as the restraints would allow, she glanced over the side of the metal slab she was constricted to to see what was happening.

The section of the floor underneath her was opening, revealing a steep pit. Feu then fiddled with another switch at his terminal, and Rachel yelped as the metal slab gave a jerk, then slowly lowered into the pit. Once it hit the bottom, Rachel found herself laying in the dead center of the pit. She went over her new surroundings, and immediately took note of the nozzles circumventing the base of the hole she was in. And now, the more that she noticed it, it felt incredibly more chilly down there. Even her stealth gear was having difficulties blocking the cold temperature. What kind of trap was this?

Before she could pose her inquiry, she heard Feu give a rousing laugh from above. That wretched sound was followed by the nozzles around her sliding open, and a yellow-ish, creamy goop pouring out of them. The goop, whatever is was, was filling the bottom of the pit at an alarming rate. It was inching closer and closer, and Rachel made several disgruntled squeaks as she desperately tried to avoid touching it.

"No. No no no no-ewwww," she grimaced as the goop began outlining her body. She shivered uncomfortably at the sensation, but was thankful it wasn't burning her skin like acid. However, while trying to struggle free, some of goop splashed into her face, slipping into her mouth.

"BLEH! Ew, that is so gross! It got in my–wait a minute…" Rachel blinked. She smacked her lips together, recognizing that wonderful taste. There was no way…was there?

Curious, the blonde flicked her tongue out, attempting to lick at the goop. When she finally recognized that oh so delicious taste, her face broke out into an amusing fusion of delight and bewilderment. "This…this is cheesecake mix?"

"Cheesecake mix?" Cree echoed from above, her and Feu gazing down into the rapidly filling pit. She arched a highly skeptic brow as she tried to wrap her head around it. "Seriously?"

"Is perfect form of payback!" Feu braked out laughing, clutching his side. He was enjoying this far too much. "She wanted cake of cheese so badly? Well, Feu does one better; he makes her ze main ingredient! Heh heh!"

Cree only gave him a wry snort. "Well, aren't you creative."

"I find myself in good mood, so, I decide to tune out zat last snip."

"You fiend!" Rachel cried out from below. Sadly, she couldn't help herself between insults. "You horrible – " Lick. " – little – " Lick. Lick. " – fiend!" Lick. Lick. Lick. Her tongue took one lavish lap of the batter, savoring the sweet nectar she had been presented in this dark hour. Suddenly she paused, frowning once she realized something with off with the flavor. "Hey, you skimped on the sugar!"

"Oh, 'scuse, 'scuse, mon chéri. You want me to go knocking on the secret lair a mountain over and ask for a spare cup?" Feu dryly grumbled. "Do you know how hard it is to send ninjas down to the grocery store and get a kajillion gallons of cheesecake mix on such short notice? It's _surprisingly_ complicated! But Feu spares no expense when it comes to snuffing out exes."

"I am not your ex!"

Cree merely folded her arms, only a tad interested in the blonde's torture. Well, okay, maybe more interested than she should be. But not a lot. "Hmm, so you _are_ getting rid of her? Not complaining, but with the way your sob story went, thought you might try to sway her to our side."

"Not how I roll. I must snub ze dumb blonde, to preserve ze fond memory forever, lest she gets fat, old, smelly and unattractive like milk into cheese. Then I will despise ever having ze relationship at all. To make me happy, I must repress the dumb blonde."

"There was NO relationship!" Rachel yelled, now raising her head to keep her nose above the rising mix. She then caught up with Feu's words, and growled. "And I am not fat!"

Feu ignored her, snapping his fingers for the umpteenth time. A seal of glass then slid out, enclosing Rachel within the pit. The boy stepped out onto the glass sheet, hands on his hips as he looked down at the trapped blonde mockingly. "Was gonna make zis soundproof, but zen was hit with big brainstorm; if I did zat, zen you wouldn't hear Feu's voicing of the 'HA HA' and 'IN YOUR FACE'!"

Cree chuckled. "Classic."

"I know. Now just need to take quick snapshot…voilà!" he cheered. He had pulled a camera out of his jacket, then held it up over his head. The device produced a photo, which he shook to get a clearer image. Once the picture came into focus, it showed a picture of his grinning face and an infuriated Rachel in the background. "One for scrapbook. Okay, this is getting lame. Come teenage-nanny person! We must make with ze rays of hot death!"

"Wait," Cree blinked as Feu started heading for the door. "You're not gonna stay and watch?"

"Time is money, baby," Feu shrugged. "And while Feu's pocket may be packing like a one man treasury, he ain't too keen on wasting either."

Cree frowned, sparing Rachel a glance. "Then shouldn't we make sure she won't be a problem?"

"She either drowns in the mix, suffocates, or freezes over. Don't matter how it goes down, Feu wins in the climax of zat three-way combo!"

Cree rolled her eyes. This wasn't right. She was too close to finally destroying the Arctic Base to have anymore slip-ups. "So you're just going to leave her here unattended?"

"Si. I'm gonna do my death ray thing, leave in her down there in overly-complex trap scenario, and assume it all went to plan." Feu stated. He felt eyes on him, and lowered his shades to make eye-contact with Cree, who was staring at him with disbelief. "What?"

"…I have a laser gauntlet . It won't even take a second."

"Le sigh. You just don't understand ze silky smooth enigma zat is, Feu. I must have poetic justice! She played me like bad sitar for cheesecake, and now after long, long time coming, I'm giving her what she wanted. Only now, it snuffs her out! Brilliant irony!"

"I'd like to see how much you love irony when it comes back to bite you in the – MMPH!" Cree was effectively silenced when Feu shoved a thick roll of dollar bills in her mouth.

"You take zat, and be happy. No more out of you, got it? Spot it? Dig? Fresh? Yes? Fan-diggy-tastic. Now let's go!" Feu proclaimed, his hand shooting up into the air as he headed towards the door. Cree plucked the wad of bills out of her mouth, growled, but kept her grumbles to herself as she followed along. Leaving Rachel to wonder how she was going to escape alive.

But once the child and teenager had left the lab, there was a small commotion in one of the potted plants decorating the lab. The leaves of the flora rustled, and the small head of a hamster poked out. Now that the coast was clear, the chestnut furred pet jumped onto the floor, scampering over to where all the humans were standing.

When Rachel had been caught by Cree, Bon-Bon had silently trailed the teenager back to this strange room of metal things. She was then forced to bide her time until the nosy boy had finished talking and had left with the scary teenager female before she could make a move to rescue her owner. Now, she had to act quickly.

The hamster made it over to the pit Rachel had been trapped in, and ran over the glass sheet to look down. Upon seeing the slightly submerged body of her owner, Bon-Bon made exaggerated squeaks and motions to get noticed.

Rachel grimaced as the mix rose and became harder and harder to resist sinking into it. The restraints were still biting on her wrists and ankles, keeping her down, and it wouldn't be long until she ran out of breathing room. How was she going to escape? And what was that tapping against the glass?

"Wait," she said, snapping up. Thinking Feu had come back to further taunt her, she sneered. But it soon melted away once she saw her hamster. "Bon-Bon!"

Bon-Bon raised her paw, and made a gesture similar to a wave.

"How are you out there?"

Bon-Bon pointed to Rachel, then fell down. She hopped back up, then made a show of appearing to toss something over her shoulders. She then motioned to herself, then began imitating the act of tip-toeing.

"You followed Cree after she knocked me out?"

Bon-Bon nodded.

"You are the best hamster ever!" Rachel cooed. Reminded of her situation, her joy wavered as she hesitated. "Listen Bon-Bon, do you think you can get me out of here? I need to stop William and Cree," she paused. "And not get made into a cheesecake."

Bon-Bon's whiskers twitched. The hamster twisted her head, glancing over to the terminal she watched Feu hammer away on. After a moment, the hamster looked down at her owner, and saluted. Without wasting anymore time, she scurried over to the terminal.

A few counters away under a heating lamp, Feu's iguana was lazing under the relaxing light. But then its eyes snapped open when it spotted a small hamster climbing up all over his master's terminal. Hissing, it slowly slithered towards the rodent.

Finally atop of the terminal, Bon-Bon gazed down, confused at all the colorful buttons and knobs. Now which order did the nosy boy press all these in? Taking a guess, she pressed her paw down on the big red one.

"AAHH!"

She jerked her paw away when Rachel screamed. Gaining focus, she racked her memory of what the nosy boy did then slowly began picking at buttons carefully.

In the pit, Rachel could hardly keep her head above the cheesecake mix anymore. But suddenly, her cufflinks snapped off. Reacting quickly, she quickly stood up again, able to now stand over the mix. Unfortunately, it still came up to her chest, and the glass sheet kept her trapped. Beating her fists against it, she called out to her pet. "Bon-Bon! Hurry up!"

The hamster rolled her eyes at how impatient her owner was. She was house-pet, not a computer genius. Getting the hang of random button mashing, she moved over towards a promising looking switch. But before she could test it, a tail snapped out and batted her away.

Once she recovered, Bon-Bon looked up to see Feu's iguana advancing on her. Her fur bristled as she went on the defense. With a hiss, the iguana snapped at her with its jaws, which she dodged. It made another snap, and when it missed her, Bon-Bon swiped at it with her paws. There was scratch left as a mark, but the iguana paid it no mind.

Bon-Bon circled around the lizard, it only twisting its neck to follow her. With a squeak, she darted forth, bumping into its side and pushing it over. The iguana retaliated by swiping at her and almost pinning her down. But Bon-Bon was able to scramble out of it's grip and bumped into again. This was followed by another snap of it's jaws, which Bon-Bon dodged, then bumped into it again. She squeaked once more, then jumped on its back, trying to bite into its neck.

The iguana spasmed wildly, and mix of squeaks and hisses spewing forth. Bon-Bon quickly hopped off, and while it was confused, bumped into it again. The final push was enough to take the iguana by surprise and knock it off the terminal. Once it fell to the floor Bon-Bon looked down and saw it trying to recover. Not wanting to let that happen, she bared her small teeth, then leapt for the iguana, aiming for its neck.

Bon-Bon fell off of side, landing somewhere behind the terminal. There was a brief hiss of struggle, then nothing. After a few seconds, Bon-Bon emerged from behind the terminal, shaking her small body before hurrying up to release Rachel again. Deciding she had wasted enough time, she went crazy at the terminal, not stopping until the button she hit opened the pit.

Success finally came when a light flashed green, and she snapped her attention to the pit, the glass sheet sliding back, essentially freeing Rachel. Without care, the hamster hopped down, and ran to the edge of the pit, hoping it was not too late for her owner.

Bon-Bon down into the pit, her whiskers twitching with worry when she saw how full of cheesecake mix it was. Had she been too late? Had Rachel drowned? She would of thought of more questions, but she was too startled when a hand shot up out of the batter. Backing away, the hamster watch as the hand gripped the edge and hefted itself up onto the floor. Then there stood a form covered almost head-to-toe in cheesecake. The body began shaking itself off, and Bon-Bon gave a happy squeak when Rachel's face became clear.

"Out of all the stupid, most lame-o traps I've gotten caught in, that one takes the cake. Agrh, did I just make a pun? Like, seriously?" Rachel berated as she shook the excess batter off her suit. When she got her hands on William… her thoughts of bodily harm screeched to a halt when Bon-Bon made herself known by jumping into her hands. After the shock wore off, Rachel cuddled her pet to her cheek.

"Thank you, Bon-Bon," Rachel warmly praised as the hamster nuzzled her cheek. Curious, she took a lick of a spot of mix on Rachel's cheek, causing said blonde to crack a giggle for the first time since this whole mission had started.

"C'mon girl," Rachel softly ordered as she motioned towards her belt. Bon-Bon took the hint, then crawled down the length of Rachel's body until she found home in her compartment again. Rachel expression hardened again as she looked to where William and Cree departed to. "This isn't over yet."

Now where did he put her equipment?

* * *

Outside, above the lab and near the peak of the mountain, a long winding platform struck out as two forms stood by a large control console awaiting for their grand finale.

Cree leaned into the railings of the catwalk, arms folded and Battle Ready Armor appearing alluring, yet deadly. The Lincoln girl craned her neck back, taking in the radar tower on the next mountain over. The wind nipped at her face as she turned her eyes higher, skyward. The sun high in the morning sky, she narrowed her eyes as she mused to herself. "So that's how it all works…"

"Of course," Feu muttered. The rad clad inventor had added a violet scarf to his ensemble to shield him from the high altitude's nippy weather. His eyes shone with precise and pensive concentration behind his visor shades, and his hands worked tirelessly to make sure all the systems were fully optimized. "How else did you expect me to blindside the arctic from this continental position?"

"I don't care about all that sci-fi nerd stuff," Cree said as she rose a hand, "I just care that you can do what you said could be done."

"Feu will deliver; this is Snapple fact. Keep your eyes on ze prize, and don't deny my vibe!" Feu rose up from his console, lowering his visors as he inspected the radar tower from afar. "I could toss the techie talk at you, but I won't bore you with so many un-fine details. Bottom line; when power output is tapped out and all solar energy has been redirected to FLAMBE, zen what I don't like? Gone."

Cree grinned as her mind's eye played out the scene. A fabulous beam of light raining down on the Kids Next Door Arctic Base, reducing it to ashes and effectively erasing its stain from the Earth. A cleansing through fire, if she felt like wording it fancy. "It's actually kind of impressive, kid," the girl admitted, genuinely amazed at Feu's aptitude for doomsday technology.

"Yeah I know," Feu boasted, never being the modest type, gleefully accepting any and all forms of renown. "I got ze spruce to make the juice, no?"

"I'm not even going to pretend I know what you were saying."

Feu's brow twitched as he motioned to the radar tower with this hand. "Is good, no?"

"Yeah, yeah," Cree waved off. "Very good no."

"Right," Feu said, his voice becoming somewhat strained as his hand fell weakly to his side. Sighing, he went back to work. For the next few minutes, he was surprisingly quiet, which caused Cree to lower her guard. When he finally snapped, she jumped. "Crapoloa! The targeting parameters are playing hard to get again! Mangy glitches, laughing at me with ze 01101's and 001010's!"

Cree blinked. She knew she should be worried about this hiccup. She should be jumping on him to fix whatever is wrong so they could hurry this up. She should do that. But … "…Crapoloa?"

"Si, crapoloa. Is substitute word."

"…_Substitute word_?"

"Ugh, YES! Substitute word! What am I, some record for you to re-re-remix?"

"What, the heck, is a substitute word?"

"You just used one," Feu pointed out. Pausing in his computer cracking, he turned to enlighten the girl with his know. "You know, replacement words for touchy-touchy? Kinda like when some kiddie network avoids censors by using replacement words. Like, crud is substitute word for crap. Which, is funny ironic, cause crap is substitute word for sh-"

_BOOOM!_

"CRUD!" Feu panicked. The explosion caused him to take up cover from behind Cree. He crouched low, gripping her legs and hoping she would shield him from whomever intended to mess up his pretty face. "Smoky alert! FREAK OUT!"

Cree rose her arms, fists clenched and eyes scanning the source of that explosion. Another rocketed from somewhere down below, so she leaned over the railing to get a better look. When she saw the problem, her face went blank. "Well, I'd hate to be the one to say 'I told you so' – wait, why am I being modest?" Snarling, she grabbed Feu by the collar of his jacket, jerked him up, and forced him to see what she was seeing. "_I told you so!_"

"My mind...she boggles…" Feu mumbled, dumbstruck at the sight before him.

Down below, creating all sorts of havoc, was Rachel. The blonde had made her way up through the lab exit and was making a mess of all his work. She leapt from catwalk to catwalk, flipped from side to side, did every fancy acrobatic display in the book; making her way up the platform.

Rachel's hand grasped a railing, expertly bringing herself up and over the side. She landed, then turned her eyes towards Feu and Cree. Sneering, she pulled a M.A.R.B.L.E from her pouch, then chucked it towards them.

Cree, upon recognizing the dangerous 2x4 weapon, moved into action. She slid Feu behind her back, protecting her investment, and whipped up her laser gauntlet, firing off at the marble to detonate it prematurely. It avoided them any significant damage, but the mustard coated explosion was enough to send Feu reeling back onto his hindquarters.

"EEEIE! MY GREASY SWEET SUIT!" he screamed upon realizing bits of mustard had tarnished his leather jacket and shoes. More explosions snapped him out of his spiral of self-pity, but only sent him into blinding rage. "Zis is NOT cool! How is zat dumb blonde she-devil still kicking? Question in mark in bold: HOW**?**"

"Ask myself that too many times," Cree groaned. Loosening her muscles, she prepared to dive down to deal with the brat once and for all. "This won't take long."

"No need!" Feu fumed as he jumped to his feet, snapping his fingers, a favored hobby of his. "Feu has contingency plan!"

Before Cree could wonder what nonsense he was going on about now, four shadows appeared from seemingly no where. It took her a brief second to recognize them as ninjas. Four, lean, elite ninjas from near the top of the payroll. The silent warriors stood stone silent as Feu rattled off his orders.

"Okay bros, here is deal," he said, pacing back and forth. "That dumb blonde sneak freak? She's giving us static. When you greet that cracker-box, BAM! Make her UN-happy! Take no prisoners. Go hardcore. Extreme, ALL OVER HER FACE!"

The ninjas shared a collective blink as they stared at Feu.

"…Or be subtle. Whatever works," Feu shrugged. His calm aura then managed a complete one-eighty as he leaned over the railing, enthusiastically pointing to Rachel. "Do your thing!"

The ninjas nodded before they gracefully leapt off the platform. Feu grinned to himself, waiting to see Rachel get the snot beat out of her while Cree continued to watch carefully.

Rachel turned another corner and headed for a set of stairs that would take her higher. However, she skidded to a halt when a shuriken embedded itself in the floor a mere inch from her foot. Looking up, she saw the four ninjas all silently studying her from their various perches. Frowning, she slid into an defensive stance as the first one broke from the group to make his strike.

The first ninja made his entry with a flying kick that was easy enough to avoid. After his landing, he produced twin sai and advanced on Rachel. The blonde rose her leg for a quick kick, but the ninja blocked with one of his sai. He quickly surged forth with the other, attempting to nick her with its knuckle. Rachel only ducked, gripped his wrist, and disarmed him of the weapon, and used his confusion to deliver a swift chop to his collar, sending him down and out.

Using the sai she acquired, Rachel quickly twisted herself around and used the weapon to parry the next ninja from behind. Rachel's sai smoothly deflected the opposing ninja's katana, but the ninja never relented, only came back to strike her with his blade's twin. Rachel used the sai's prongs to trap the katana in her hold. She then swung her arm around, twisting the sword out of the ninja's grip completely, and tossing it and the sai over the side of the catwalk. Not wasting his opening, Rachel jumped to knee the ninja's midsection, causing him to stumble back.

When she landed, she had simply back flipped into the air again as a bo-staff glided under her. The ninja cursed as he failed to take Rachel by surprise. Following up his attack, he swung at her again, only for the girl to nimbly hop over it. He then broke into a series of mad swings, Rachel fluidly dodging every strike. He brought it up, and violently came down in an arch. But Rachel only caught the staff with both her hands. Pressing pass the slight sting it caused, Rachel pushed the tip pf the long-staff into the ninja, his grip slackening in response. She used the advantage to steal the weapon, and swung it back around to tap him none too gently upside the skull.

Three ninjas down. Rachel twirled the bo-staff between her fingers as she smirked. Though her smugness disappeared quick as it came as the fourth ninja finally recovered. Using his remaining katana, he made several strikes and swings at Rachel, only for her to defend and counter with her bo-staff. The ninja brought his blade down, attempting to tear her in two, but Rachel continued to hold off with her staff, a sheen sweat breaking out. On the ninja, of course.

"Oh, please let zis be some cruel trick of mind," Feu grumbled as he watched the horrible display before him. This was an outrageous outrage! His raddest, baddest ninja goons being shown up by some dumb blonde sissy girl! What was the world coming to?

"Eh? No! Go right!" he said as he attempted to direct the last ninja. "What are you–YOUR right! Don't look at me, look at –duck! Duck! DUUU-aw, he didn't duck. S'cool man! Keep at it! Yeee-aaah! Zat's what I'm talkin abou–HEY! I saw that, dumb blonde cheater! Low-blow, low-blow!"

Cree was somewhat amused with Feu's antics. "You'd make great ring-side commentary, kid."

"Stop making with ze slingy-zing-slang, and get down there, and make with the _banga-dang-bang_!"

"_ENGLISH_ BOY! DO YOU SPEAK IT?"

Feu ground his teeth together as his face started to turn a light shade of red. A hand fled to his temple, trying to fight off his oncoming tension headache. "Get. Down. There. And. STOP. Her."

Cree smiled, patting the boy on the head like she would a Spitz puppy. "There. Now was that so hard?" Getting serious, her face-plate enclosed itself around the reminder of her head, and the Teen Ninja flipped over the side to meet the Kids Next Door operative head-on. Feu was left fuming, but suppressed it once he repeated his mental mantra. Cool cats like his fine self did not freak out. They did not lose their smooth in times like this. Nope. He was calm. He was fresh. He was funky.

"I'm like baby oil; so smooth, so fine, so soft to the touch, ze ladies love it," he chuckled to himself. "Hmm, talking to myself. Worried? No man, don't worry. You talking to you, bout time you got someone who understands at a level even to own. Why thank you, Feu. Is so hard to be appreciated. I just gotta be calm. Calm like those tightrope walking circus people." He frowned, remembering something. "I hated those circus people!"

While Feu was in an intense make-out session with himself, Rachel was desperately trying to make up for lost time and get up to stop him. She looked up to the control console he stationed himself at, and slowed in pace when she saw him up there alone. Where had Cree wandered off to?

There was not much time to think on that line of thought for Rachel's child-like short attention span became solely focused on that clinking noise in front of her. She looked down, seeing a glossy, glass ball. That happened to be really shiny. So shiny, that she wanted to pick it up and start a collection of shiny things just like it. It was just so pretty the way it lured her in. There was some annoying voice in the back of her head, one that sounded a lot like her, raging at her to get away from the shiny thing. But why would she ever want to ignore such a beautiful, and oh so very shiny ball that she wanted to keep?

Did she mention the ball was shiny? 'Cause it was.

The wonderful shiny ball she wanted to cradle, started beeping when she got close. This beeping made the ball seem less pretty for some reason. Why, it was like some trance was being broken. As the shiny thing began to bore her more, that nagging voice got a bit louder. Saying something about how Teen Ninjas use weird shiny balls – that really weren't shiny balls – to lure kids to their doom. Rachel distinctly remembered a class in training being on something about this.

Oh yeah, that's right! Attention Deficit Balls – or Idiot Balls as some liked to call them– that let off a weird frequency that only affected children. The frequency made it so the shiny ball would just seem so irresistible, and when you got close, it started to beep a few times before it exploded and then –

Crud.

Rachel was barely able to regain her ability to gun it before the ADB detonated. The blast was nearly blinding in its bright intensity, and actually managed to blow her off her feet, her bo-staff being dropped in the chaos.

Trying her best to recover from the blast, and silently hoping that the ringing in her ears was just a temporary thing, Rachel tried to get up when she was quickly grabbed by her front and thrown into the railing. Her body bounced off the metal, and she went tumbling down like a rag-doll.

Rachel got up and repressed the pain flaring up her side. She looked up to see Cree coldly and calculatingly stepping towards her. Not wanting this to be a simple slaughter, Rachel ran at her and threw a punch at Cree, which she caught. Everything became a blur for her then. She realized she was in the air, falling, still on Feu's platform outside. She fell and spun at just the right speed and angle to see Cree wind back a fist which flew and became a black blur. After that, it got a bit hard to think, mostly because she was fighting off unconsciousness.

"Numbuh 362; Best Spy of the Kids Next Door." Rachel heard a slightly mumbled voice as the world came back into focus. She glanced up, and was greeted with the view of Cree leaning down over her, a saccharine sweet smile on her lips. "It's cute how they make up meaningless nicknames like that to make you think you're important, isn't it?"

Rachel glared at the Lincoln girl. "Yeah…like Traitor."

"Hm, oh honey, I hope there's more sting behind your punches than your comebacks," Cree rolled off her tongue as she stepped back, allowing Rachel to stand.

The moment she peaked, the blonde rushed her. Cree only waited, and at the last possible second, weaved around to position herself behind Rachel. She then preformed a perfect sweep, knocking the child off her feet. Still crouched low, Cree reached for the operative's feet, then swung the girl through the air, releasing her in hopes she would fly off the side of the mountain.

Realizing the danger, Rachel's hand flapped about grabbing for anything that could halt her fall. She caught a break, and also caught the lower railing of a higher catwalk. Cree made 'tch' sound as she saw the child climbing up to safety, but went back to work. The teenager simply raised her gauntlet, and took aim.

Rachel managed to get back onto her feet in time to hear the signal whir of Cree's laser charging. Without even looking back, she darted off down the catwalk, the laser blast barely missing her. Rachel ran, but Cree trailed after; each shot getting close, but no cigar. Fed up with trying to nail a moving target, Cree's kicked her jets into gear and flew up to Rachel's level.

When the volley of lasers ceased, Rachel looked back to see the teenager had once again vanished. The sound of something landing on metal floor caused her to look back ahead just in time to see herself running straight into Cree's line-of-fire. The Teen Ninja fired, the shot aimed for that place between her eyes. So reacting, moving with a surgeon's speed and precision, Rachel fell into a slide, ducking under the laser and slipping between Cree's legs.

"Slippery little," Cree growled as she turned around. She was in time to see Rachel leaping at her with her leg reared, and her arms shot up at record speeds to block the blow. She staggered back, trying to recover, but Rachel wasn't too keen on letting that happen. She went at Cree again and again with a flurry of combinations, her eyes never straying away in case they missed that one opening.

But Cree wasn't known to just stand there and take it like a practice dummy. While Rachel kept beating away, the teenager flicked her left hand, activating a taser function built into her gloves. She then grinned as she saw Rachel prep for a slow strike. She readied her left hand, and when the blonde struck, she caught it.

Rachel winced when Cree tightened her grip, but then outright screamed when she felt an indescribable pain channel through her body. Cree lifted the child up, then carelessly tossed her back down to a lower level. When Rachel hit the deck and twitched a bit, she began to suspect she had been electrocuted. Fighting off the tingles, she got to her feet, and noticed the discarded bo-staff to her left. She picked it up just as Cree landed behind her.

"2x4 Department must have hit some rough times if you babies are playing with sticks now," Cree said tersely. Rachel looked over her shoulder, and smirked. Before Cree could respond, the blonde reached for something at her belt, then slammed it to the ground, the entire area quickly becoming cluttered with thick gray smog afterword.

"Hmph, smoke bomb," Cree muttered unimpressed, "like that's original." The teen pressed a button on the side of her helmet, the world going from grey to a vibrant mass of greens and blues in classic "Predator" style. The girl turned around with just enough time to see a yellow, orange, and red Rachel run towards her and crack the staff across her face. "Gah!" Cree cried, her helmet being knocked off, thus losing her heat vision visor.

However, the taps of the staff against the deck allowed her to turn just in time to catch Rachel. Cree blindly struck with her taser glove, praying she would hit something solid. And she did. Rachel was once again forced to submit to the power behind Cree's brand of shock therapy. The blonde went down, her staff rolling away as he curled into herself. Cree's cruel laughter wasn't helping.

Jarred by all the fighting, Bon-Bon poked her head out of Rachel's pocket to see what the commotion was. She saw her owner, laid out flat, and reaching for a long stick a few inches away. Before the hamster could wonder what Rachel would want with a stick, she squeaked as a large foot stepped down on the blonde's hand. The scared pet then glanced up, seeing the scary teenager again.

"So much more trouble than you're worth," Cree muttered as she looked down at Rachel. Snorting, she lowered her laser gauntlet, preparing to put the kid down for good. "Want to hear a joke? If it wasn't for that idiot up there, I would have done this much sooner. Better late then never, I guess."

Bon-Bon saw the laser charging and knew it would not end well for Rachel. The hamster willed her owner to get up, but Rachel was still reeling from the taser. Bon-Bon switched glances between her owner, and the scary teenager. The scary teenager a cute, fluffy hamster like herself stood no chance against.

But, if she didn't do something, her owner would done for. Bon-Bon stilled for a second. Then her whiskers twitched.

She knew what she had to do.

"Say goodbye, you little – AAAH!" Cree suddenly screamed as something ripped into her ear. Bon-Bon had quickly climbed up Cree, and in order to buy Rachel a few precious seconds, sunk her teeth into the teenager's ear. The sharp pain caused Cree to step off of Rachel, shifting all her focus to riding herself of the hamster. When Rachel's hand was free, the blonde continued to crawl towards the bo-staff.

"Get off. Get. OFF!" Cree roared as she harshly caught the hamster. She gave a painful squeeze, which was enough to cause Bon-Bon to lose her grip. Cree seethed at the despicable little thing. Her frustration at its peak, she gave Bon-Bon one last, painful squeeze as she jerked her arm back. "You stupid little RAT!"

Rachel finally got to her feet, bo-staff firmly in grip when she heard Cree's shout. The blonde looked up to see what was going on. But then it all went in slow motion. Cree's arm slowly cocked back, then whipped out, tossing something over the side of the mountain.

Tossing Bon-Bon over the side of the mountain.

"B-Bon-Bon…" she uttered in a broken whisper. Bon-Bon, that cute little baby hamster she got as a present at Arctic Graduation and had been assigned as her hamster partner. Bon-Bon always went with her on missions. Bon-Bon was always there to nuzzle against her on a stakeout to remind her she wasn't alone.

Bon-Bon had attacked Cree just to make sure Rachel would live. And now, Bon-Bon was…

"Disgusting thing!" Cree shivered as she rubbed at her ear. "I swear, after the Arctic Base is thrashed, I'm gonna find out where they come from then – "

_TWACK!_

Cree said no more as she went flying back, crashing into the railing and body falling limp on the deck. Rachel tightly gripped the bo-staff, wetness dabbing at her eyes. She wanted to go over there and hit her again. She wanted to toss her over the side like she did with Bon-Bon. But she wouldn't. If she didn't move on and stop Feu, then the hamster's sacrifice would be in vain. Sending one last hateful glance Cree's way, Rachel turned and continued up to Feu.

After a minute Cree slowly rose, severely disorientated, and running on pure 'need-to-end-brat-now'. Snarling, she got to her feet, not even trying to stem the flow of blood that was pouring from her nose as she stalked after Rachel.

"Let's see, things to do once FLAMBE is up and groovy," Feu mused to himself. It was only a matter of waiting now, so he decided a mental checklist was in order. "Trash base in Arctic place, reduce all world's ice cream to slop, literally bring Kellner's house down… But what is next for Feu?" He tapped at his chin, thinking. "Zis whole 'mad-scientist' scene really don't 'zing' the way I was anticipating. And with FLAMBE, I prove I am tops. Maybe I could shift profiles for a bit, experiment. Feu has always wanted to open his own rad bad casino…"

"Ahem."

"Ah, have you out of sighted and out of minded dumb blonde cracker-box?" Feu questioned, turning to face Cree.

Only, it wasn't Cree who greeted him. It was just a very intimidating looking Rachel. " … oh. You _are_ dumb blonde cracker-box." She never responded, and it caused him to tug at his collar. "This is awkward one-sided confrontation scene I was looking to bail on…"

Rachel said nothing. She only continued to bore into him with that stoic, unnerving stare.

"You new to this conversation business?" Feu asked, stalling for time. "I say something, you say something, I make witty joke, you make milk-spraying laugh, I flirt a bit, you fall under charm, I – "

"Shut up," Rachel said, emotionally drained, her breath coming in slow and haggard drags. "Just get out of my way."

"You want Feu to skedaddle? Sorry, not gonna be happening," Feu denied, deciding to stand his ground. She was just one big bully, and his mama always told him to stand up to bullies. It's true. "It's rude to leave a party too early. Feu ain't going nowheres until your Arctic Base is puddle and all the ice cream on zis rock is overheated milkshakes."

"What?" Rachel asked, voice devolving into little more than a menacing snarl. "You're joking, right?"

"Note 'not joking' face," he retorted, slowing framing his expression. "Been waiting long time to dance zis tango. Show your bling, and let me – OW!" He was interrupted when Rachel simply took her staff, and tapped him on the noggin. "I WAS NOT READY!"

Rachel watched the boy whine, her eyes heavy and body almost completely zapped. "I'm so tired of you."

Feu only growled back. "Your own fault for zat one, mon chéri."

"Enough!" Rachel stomped, raising her weapon threateningly. "I took an oath not to hurt defenseless kids, but I'll make an exception if you don't move so I can destroy that tower."

"Feu? Defenseless? How dare suggest most–wait, what? What's with zis talk of towers?" Feu asked, confused himself for once. He glanced behind him, seeing the radar tower. Putting the puzzle together, he began laughing. "Oh! Now's that's comedy! You think that's FLAMBE? Ha! Sorry dumb blonde, but that cruise sailed two days ago."

"Okay, _what_ are you talking about? Seriously this time," Rachel said tersely. "The death ray is supposed to be here, you built it here! If that tower isn't Project FLAMBE, then where is it?"

"Come ooooon, you ain't zat dumb of a blonde. I practically put the pieces together for you! FLAMBE launched before you even showed up at the dance floor. She's up amongst greatness where she belongs! You want to find FLAMBE?" He only stuck his thumbs upwards. "Put eyes to sky."

Raising a brow, Rachel looked up into the sky, trying to look for whatever he was pointing at. But she didn't see anything. Only the blue sky and the glare of the sun. Her eyes narrowed, then widened as she tied it all together. "FLAMBE is an orbital laser?"

"Heh heh, that's right, baby! With ze latest in global positioning tech-specs, ain't no one out there that can play hide and seek with me! I just gotta say Marco, and FLAMBE fries Polo. Is brilliant!"

"Congratulations, you made glorified artillery," Rachel scoffed, "you must feel real accomplished."

Feu only checked his watch, and grinned. "I will once Arctic Base goes bye-bye."

Remembering that fact, Rachel dropped all pretense of negotiation and gripped Feu by his shirt, bringing him to her eye-level. "Tell me how to stop it. Now!"

"Heh, sorry. Can't be done," Feu sheepishly shrugged. "Is my own design. We've been storing up juice up here for days. Now zat she's soaked enough rays, FLAMBE has to blow off that steam. Once she's started, she ain't gonna stop until she's done. Sorry, cracker-box, you fell out of line with the beat."

Rachel's fists clenched around the leather of his jacket, not accepting the fact he outsmarted her. Upon tearing her eyes away from his confident mug, her gaze fell on the terminal behind him. An idea was starting to form. "No. No, I've still got some moves left."

"Singo zat lingo to me one more time – HEY!" he spluttered as Rachel dropped him. He wiped off his clothes, but then went ballistic when the blonde began tampering with his console. "Don't touch my craft! You soil it with your unpolished nails!"

"If I'm right," Rachel muttered as she hurriedly rushed through her task. "This should…work and…YES! I did – whoa!" she croaked as someone violently jerked her away from the computer. She found her feet dangling as she was lifted into the air, and struggled for breath as an arm tightened its hold around her throat. Before she could speak her displeasure, a familiar laser gauntlet was shoved in her face.

"Dwiss de?" Cree grinned, before blinking, realizing her voice was slightly muffled on account of her broken nose. "Dooh dwou gwotta de dwucking dwih de!"

"Ha HA!" Feu, however, was now having a blast again. With Rachel captured by Cree again, there was no way out for her. "See? It don't matter how much you bling, how much you rave, how much you bring to ze table; it don't stack up to ME! I'm too mag-to the-jag-to the-nificiant! My style? It's like smoke! Ungrabbable, but all over ze place! You WISH you were as fine as me, do not lie!" Feu continued to rant on his ego-trip. However, it all came to a screeching halt when he picked up on Rachel's chuckle. "Feu is middle of some major gloating here, what makes you go 'tee hee'?"

"You still lose," Rachel smirked. "You're not destroying anything with FLAMBE now."

Feu rolled his eyes as he tapped his watch. "Uh, hello! Your Arctic Base is gonna be nothing but big fiery crater in about twenty seconds."

"No, it's not. While I couldn't stop FLAMBE from firing, I could change where it fired."

Feu took a moment to contemplate Rachel's explanation while Cree paled. "No matter. She misses first time, no big deal. She needs no cool down. With all ze juice we got, she's up and raring to go 'nother round just like that." He emphasized with a snap.

"DWOU DWUCKING DWDIT!" Cree raged. "Dwat dwan dwaser dwis gwonna dwire dere!"

Feu looked at Cree as if she were a lunatic. "_What_?"

"Loosely translated;" Rachel smirked, facing the sky as a light began to form. "Look up."

Feu did indeed look up. There, in a small patch of the sky, a small ball of red light appeared. With each passing minute, the light grew bigger and bigger in its size. It began to cancel out the yellow sunlight and veil the mountain and surrounding areas in a bright red hue. Scared out of his wits, Feu quickly went over to the targeting computer and studied the new coordinates Rachel inputted. "Wait a minute…t-that's…" He looked up again, his face falling. "This…will suck."

No sooner did the words leave his mouth did a tower of blinding red light rain down on the mountain. The wind flared as a sound akin to thunder vibrated throughout the area as the laser from Project FLAMBE destroyed Feu's radar tower. The terrifying light show went on for exactly three minutes, and three minutes was all that was needed for the damage to be done. Soon, the laser died down to a hum and particles of light flickered briefly before fizzling away.

In the aftermath, all that as left of the radar tower was smoldering ash and a gaping, burning scar in the mountain slope.

Back on the platform, Rachel was quick enough to clench her eyes shut to avoid the harsh light. Feu and Cree were not as lucky. Blinded by FLAMBE's laser, Cree released her hold on Rachel and Feu ran around in circles, clutching his eyes in hopes his retinas would recover.

Rachel stood back away, watching the two bumble around until Feu bumped into Cree, knocking them both down. With a sigh, Rachel gave a bittersweet smile. "Finally, it's – "

_CRAASH!_

Rachel tensed as the rumbling noise caught her attention. The ground around her shook, and the world felt like it would open up under her. She noticed that the sky seemed to be darkening, and she turned around confused. Was FLAMBE firing again? But then her jaw dropped, realizing the danger was much colder. And approaching fast,

"AVALANCHE!" Rachel took a horrified step back as all that snow came barreling down the mountain. Not wanting to stay on this base a minute longer, she jetted down the catwalk, aiming to get out of there.

Cree blinked slowly as her vision returned, looking around her and letting out a whine as she recalled er broken nose. Suddenly, Rachel zipped by her like the devil's hounds were on her heel. The teenager glanced back, wondering what had her spooked. Then she noticed the avalanche. "Dooh, SWIT!"

"Where are my shades?" Cree diverted her attention to the source of the screams, Feu, who was crawling around on all fours; still slightly blinded and looking for his eye-wear. "Feu cannot appear silky smooth without his shades!"

Cree looked away from Feu, then back to the avalanche. Seeing the child in danger caused her to act on an instinct she thought she had long put to rest. Activating her Battle Ready Armor, Cree rolled into Feu, tucking him against her chest and allowing her armor to spread over them like a cocoon, protecting them from the avalanche's fury.

With Rachel, she had ran down the length of the catwalk back to lab's entry. She looked back again and grimaced. There was no way she could navigate through the whole compound and make it out in time. But how else was she going to escape. She leaned over the edge of the railing, seeing a clear, even angled slope down the length of the mountain. Maybe if she had something to ride down. But what?

"Improvise, improvise…there!" she exclaimed as she went over to a pill of debris she had created blowing through the door. Taking a long sheet of curved metal, she inspected it's length and width, wondering if it would do. But with the avalanche getting closer, she decided she couldn't be picky. Without a second thought, Rachel leapt over the railing, positioning the metal underneath her, landing on it, and riding it down the mountain.

Now on her makeshift sled, Rachel quickly whipped out her communicator and dialed in. She looked over her shoulder, and gulped as the avalanche was still advancing. "Come on, come on…"

"_Numbuh 362?_" the voice on the other end answered. "_Thank goodness! We lost radio contact like, a gazillion hours ago! We didn't know if you needed to be rescued or – _"

"MISSION SUCCESS!" Rachel panicked. "DEATH RAY GONE! EXTRACTION NOW!"

"_Uh, R-Roger, ma'am! We've got a lock on your signal, ETA: two minutes._"

Rachel pocketed her communicator and looked back. Yep. That avalanche was still coming, and not slowing down either. In a act to gain more speed, Rachel leaned down further, hoping lowering the resistance would help.

But it seemed that even with her mission completed, Feu and Cree defeated and help on the way, she still couldn't get a break today. From behind, two snowmobiles caught up to her. They surrounded her on both sides and she slammed her fist down on her sled.

"Oh COME ON!" she shouted. Riding the snowmobiles were four leftover ninjas; two driving the machines and two archers aiming arrows at her. There's an avalanche threatening to bury them and they STILL want to kill her? "What is your deal? I buried the guy who was supposed to pay you, why are you still bothering me?"

"That's just it," one ninja shouted over the avalanche. "You buried the guy who was _supposed_ to _PAY US_!"

Rachel blinked as she saw their logic. "Ooh, I can see why you might be ticked off about that." Her words offered them no comfort, and the archers took aim. Rachel shut her eyes, praying for a miracle.

"NUMBUH 362!"

That might do it.

A shadow flew over them and the sound of an aircraft boomed out from above. They all looked up to see a S.C.A.M.P.E.R flying low. The pod-bay door was open, and there stood Numbuh 20,000, hefting a long barrel weapon in his head.

"Hey ninjas!" he roared, holding up his weapon; a KND remodeled Nerf sniper rifle "Keep your eyes…on…THE B.I.R.D.I.E. !"

* * *

**Kids Next Door: B.I.R.D.I.E.**

**B**ee-bee. **I**ncendiary. **R**ounds. **D**emolishes. **I**rksome. **E**nemies.

* * *

Looking down the scope, Numbuh 20,00 took steady aim. All he needed was one shot. His targets properly spotted, the Deep Sea Specialist fired off a single bee-bee pellet. As it zipped through the air, the super extra-ly hot hot sauce within the pellet caught fire. The pellet hit its mark on the side of one the ninja snowmobiles. When it made contact, a small burst of flame caused the driver to lose control. He spun out of control, and when Rachel leaned back on her sled, they crashed into the other snowmobile, sending all the ninjas crashing and burning somewhere off behind her.

With the ninjas gone Rachel looked up to her follow operative, thankful. "Nice shot!"

"It all comes…with being…UNDER PRESSURE!" Numbuh 20,000 yelled. However, the boy caught something out of the corner of his eyes down the line. "Ma'am…LOOK OUT!"

Rachel looked to what he was pointing at, and saw the steep cliff she was heading towards. "Um guys…I CAN'T FLY!"

"Numbuh 92, Numbuh 93 get…this clunker…MOVING!" Numbuh 20,000 ordered. "HANG ON MA'AM!"

The S.C.A.M.P.E.R went into a dive as it raced for the cliff. Once Rachel saw it position itself, she knew she would have to jump for it. Steeling her nerve, she wobbly got to her feet as she neared the moment of truth. The makeshift sled went and slipped off the cliff and the avalanche was dead on her tail. Rachel leapt with all her might, her hand reaching out. Numbuh 20,000 latched onto her hand, and quickly lifted her up into the ship. All operatives on board, the S.C.A.M.P.E.R rocketed away just as the avalanche continued on.

Inside the S.C.A.M.P.E.R, Rachel collapsed to the floor, letting of the warmth of the interior heat up her numb body. "I have, like, never been more glad to see you, Numbuh 20,000."

"It's nothing ma'am!" the boy responded, giving a sharp and stiff salute. "I was to rendezvous for a top secret marine mission…it was on the way…so I thought I could lend…ASSISTANCE!"

From one of the pilot's seats, Numbuh 93 leaned out. "And he bought me a free soda!"

"No," his twin brother, Numbuh 92, argued. "That soda is mine."

"No it's not, it's mine!"

"Mine! I called it!"

"Yeah? Well I licked it!"

"So? We're related, it doesn't count!"

"SHUT UP AND FLY!" Numbuh 20,000 chastised the twins, jerking the soda away from them. The two went back to the wheel, grumbling, as Numbuh 20,000 handed the beverage to Rachel. "Here you go ma'am…you look like…YOU NEED IT!"

"Um, thank you," Rachel gingerly said as she took the soda, ignoring Numbuh 20,000's verbal tick. Turning to the back of the ship, she snapped it opened as she walked back. "Numbuh 92, patch me into the moonbase so I can make my report."

"On it, ma'am," Numbuh 92 agreed as he reached for the button, only for his brother to slap his hand away. "Hey! She told me to do it!"

"I know how to call in. Last time you tried, you ended up calling Knightbrace's dental hotline!"

"No I didn't, give it here!"

"No!"

"JUST LET ME DO IT YOU IDIOTS!"

Rachel ignored them as she guzzled her soda, sighing refreshed once she chugged the can down. The screen in front of her finally flickered, and she stood straight as the Supreme Leader himself appeared. "Numbuh 274, sir!"

"At ease," the image of Chad nodded. "What's the status of your mission, Numbuh 362?"

"I infiltrated the mountain lair to confirm our suspicions. I located and disarmed Project FLAMBE – the death ray– and buried its secrets. It won't be a threat to anyone ever again."

"Excellent. I expected no less from you, Numbuh 362. Any additional details?"

"The death ray was an orbital laser. The systems here on Earth are disabled, but I recommend locating it and dismantling it. Also, Cree Lincoln was present. She hired extra security to insure FLAMBE's protection in order to use it to destroy the Arctic Base."

"Really now? We had wondered where she disappeared off to so suddenly," Chad added. "What about the inventor? Any information on him?"

"I'm sorry," Rachel spoke calmly, but the slight twitch in her eye almost gave her away. "I don't remember his name, sir."

"I see," Chad muttered. He was silent for a minute before shaking his head. "No matter. I have another mission for you."

"Another one?" Rachel blinked before regaining her composure. "I don't mean to be rude, sir, but I just completed three-day long one."

"I'm aware of that, but this is a pressing matter and we're short on options. Father has been on the hush about his plans lately and it has Global Command worried. I need you to sneak into his mansion and see if you can uncover what he's up to."

"Father? That's a stretch outside my region, sir."

"Again, I'm aware of that," Chad responded in a somewhat reprimanding tone. "But we need no foul-up on this mission, and I trust that you will deliver the results."

Rachel's eyes wavered but she nodded none the less. "Yes sir, I understand. I'll head out immediately."

"Good luck, Numbuh 362. End Transmission."

Once Chad's face disappeared, Rachel slumped in her seat. Great. Being sent out on another mission right after that heck. What fantastical fun. Groaning, Rachel reached for her spare locker as she called for Numbuh 20,000.

"Numbuh 20,000." The boy appeared at the door, standing at attention. "Tell Numbuhs 92 and 93 to set a course for the Delightful Manor. Also, would you guys mind keeping it down a bit? I'm a bit…cranky right now."

"Yes, ma'am!" Numbuh 20,00 saluted before turning away. "Set a course…for the…DELIGHTFUL MANOR! And keep it down."

"What?"

"Keep it down! Numbuh 362 wants peace and quiet!"

"Geez, ya don't hafta yell!"

"I SAID PEACE AND QUIET!"

Rachel's brows twitched as the shouts escalated, but only went on about re-equipping herself for her next assignment. She re-laced her boots, tightened her gauntlets, and worked on wrapping her face wrap around her face. Once secured, her hand reached off to the side to grab her helmet, but stopped short when her hand brushed against a certain compartment of her belt.

Rachel somberly gazed down, staring at Bon-Bon's pocket. Now, this would be the first of many lonely missions without her loyal hamster. If it hadn't been for Bon-Bon's sacrifice, the whole thing would have went south, the world wouldn't have ice cream, and the KND would be mourning the loss of life at the Arctic Base. But there was no need to worrying about any of that now. All those lives had been saved.

All in due part to a furry brave one.

Rachel gazed out the window, looking back towards the disappearing mountain peaks. She allowed a lone tear to trail down her cheek before she blanked once more, lowering her helmet to prepare to sneak into Father's mansion. This mission was over. Time for the next one.

"…Thank you, Bon-Bon."

* * *

Near the base of the mountain, the avalanche had finally settled. Life within this lonesome sect of nature was peaceful and silent once more. Well, not for long anyway.

A clump of snow shook as a sliver object rose from the snow banks. Once all the wintery fluff had gave way, Cree's Battle Ready Armor retracted itself. Now that they were safe Cree dropped Feu. As the child fell face first into the snow, Cree sat down, taking a patch of the stuff herself and pressing it against her nose.

"Ahhh," Cree hissed at the pain. "Dat dwiddle dwitch dwoke dwy dwoooose!"

"BLEH!" Feu cried as he spat out the snow, rubbing furiously to get the icky stuff off his tongue. "Stupid snow! It's just like ice cream…but worser so!" After attending to that, he stood, trying to keep his image intact. But it would be all for nothing for one look of his surroundings caused him to wig out.

"My…my crib, it is all under slush," he cried, realizing his lab had been buried. He fell to his knees, looking to the sky in despair. "Project Flambe – she's past tense!"

Cree rolled her eyes at his over dramatic display. "Dooh, dwut up."

"Aggh, speak clear, teenage-nanny person!" Feu snapped, in no mood for her nonsense. "How about you stop talking your moonspeak, and use a language we all can understand? Crystal?"

Cree slowly turned her head in his direction, her jaw tightening. Her hand rose up, and Feu flinched, thinking she was going to bring him pain. But she only brought it to her nose, and snapped it back into place.

"Yeah," she growled, voice somewhat back to normal. "_Crystal_."

Feu gulped. "Your tolerance to pain frightens Feu…"

"Oh trust me, there's worse I could do," she said in a low voice. The pain still spread across her face, but her actions should hold it off until she could get her dad to look at it. Suddenly, an alarm went off, causing Cree to groan. "Great."

"What?"

"It's your curfew. If I want to get paid, I gotta get you home in the next ten minutes somehow." That was going to be a long walk. Sighing, she stood up. "Let's go."

"Go? There is no go until Feu says so!" he raged, pointing back up the mountain. "I had to beg like puppy to get mama to give me advanced allowances. Too much money went into zis to just say 'oh well, let us go home watch TV' NONE OF THAT! We's getting back up there, and salvaging! You picking up on what I'm throwing down?"

As Feu went on and on, Cree felt her ire raising again. But before she could snapped, she remembered something. Cursing herself for forgetting, she dug around in her pocket and pulled out a list Feu's parents had left with her. Squinting her eyes, she began to read. "'If William starts to get cranky before bed time, simply sing to him…' You're kidding. _That's_ all I had to do to shut him up?"

" – And zen I'm gonna make her wish she never went to pre-school!" Feu ranted. "So you hear me? Zis ain't over, cracker-box! No one can put a lid on ze groove zat is –H-HEY! Watch ze merchandise!" he sputtered as Cree picked him up. Still not content, he fussed more, even as she rocked him. "I am no baby! You see diaper on zis package? But put me down at once! I am – "

"~_La petite poule grise_," Cree began to sing, reciting the lullaby recommended by Feu's parents. "_Quallait pondre dans l'église Pondait un petite coco Que l'enfant mangeait tout chaud.~_"

"I will not be silenced! I am…I am smooth…" Feu's voices died down, his eyes feeling very heavy. Maybe a nap was in order. That sounded kinda nice actually. "Feu is…greasy…sweet…"

Cree looked down to see him nodding off. Sighing, she continued singing, hoping it would keep him out until they go back home. The money had better be good for all of this trouble. "_Létait une petite poul noir Quallait pondre dans l'armoire Pondait un petite coco…_

"_Que l'enfant mangeait tout chaud…_"

* * *

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**End Trans-**

"Hey! Feu _demands_ to be played out with super smooth spy music!"

…

_Yeah, yeah..._

_Time don't wait for no-one_

_So my heart and my time I refuse to waste_

_You thought you knew the score but_

_There's just so much more when you're caught in the race_

_What is love_

_(What is love?)  
_

_Without a flame_

_(Without a flame?)  
_

_What's a rose_

_(A rose)  
_

_Without a name_

_(Without a name?)_

_What is passion without pain?  
_

_It ain't nothing more than an empty space_

_Give me Everything or Nothing_

_Give me Everything or Nothing at all  
_

_Everything or Nothing  
_

_Give me Everything or Nothing at all! _

"Is MUCH better, man!"

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**End Transmission.**


End file.
